Groom’s father dies in stag weekend horror
A SCOTTISH father has died while celebrating his son’s stag weekend in Poland.
The body of bank worker William Higgins, from Mauchline in Ayrshire, was found floating in a river early yesterday morning in the city of Wroclaw.
The stag party, organised ahead of the wedding next month of Mr Higgins’s son Mark, had only arrived in Poland on Friday.
Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of the 54-year-old after his body was discovered in the River Oder by passers-by.
Preliminary enquiries are believed to have ruled out robbery as a motive as it is understood Mr Higgins’s passport and ID were still in his pockets when he was recovered from the water.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials are liaising with authorities at the scene, as well as the family in
‘Everybody liked him, this is heart-breaking’
Scotland, to try to determine what led to his mysterious death.
At the family home in Mauchline yesterday, Mr Higgins’s wife, Jane, 52, was being comforted by relatives and friends.
Mark, 25, was due to marry his entrepreneur fiancée, Jennifer Hope, from Drongan, Ayrshire, next month.
She is director of a property firm that builds energy-efficient homes for first-time buyers, The Wee House Company.
Her parents, Ian and Anne, own Hope Homes, which until last year worked with Prince Charles to develop the Ayrshire eco-village Knockroon.
Nobody was available to comment at their home yesterday.
At the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, a spokesman said: ‘We are providing support to the family and friends of a British man following his death in Wroclaw, Poland. Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.’
Mr Higgins is believed to have worked for the Clydesdale Bank.
Yesterday, one shocked friend said: ‘I spoke to him just a day ago. I’m absolutely devastated, and so is his wife Jane.
‘Before he left, we had been joking with him, telling him not to hit the bookies too hard over in Poland.
‘We told him he was going there with a young crew and shouldn’t get too involved. He just laughed like he always did. We can’t believe he’s gone. As for the wedding, we’ve no idea what’s going to happen – it’s obviously the last thing on anyone’s mind just now.’
Wroclaw, this year’s European Capital of Culture, has become a popular stag destination and is fast overtaking its Polish rival Krakow as a party town because of it laid-back atmosphere and raucous nightlife. Direct flights go to the city from Glasgow Airport.
At various times in history, the city has been part of Bohemia, Hungary, the Austrian Empire, Prussia, and Germany.
It became part of Poland in 1945, as a result of the border changes after the Second World War. The population of Wroclaw in 2014 was 634,000, making it the fourth-largest city in Poland.
Numerous waterways, bridges, and examples of mediaeval architec- ture are a big draw for tourists and day-trippers.
Last night, another friend of Mr Higgins in his Ayrshire hometown said he was devastated to hear the news of his death. He added that Mr Higgins, whom he first met met when their sons played for the local football team, had been a ‘kind, funny man, who was devoted to his family’. ‘Everybody liked him,’ the friend added. ‘This is just heart-breaking.’