Heartbroken mum about to bury her dead son is told body is SOMEONE ELSE
Chad Gibson has been missing since December and police said they found his remains in August
A GRIEVING mum was shocked to discover the person she was burying wasn't her son.
Sharon Gibson was distraught when she heard her boy Chad, 32, was dead after human remains were found on farmland near Newquay, Cornwall in August.
The discovery was made after months of searching for him after he disappeared during a night out in the town on December 19 last year.
Police identified the remains as belonging missing Chad, and heartbroken Sharon began making arrangements for his funeral.
But it took detectives weeks to come back to tell her the remains are NOT her son after all.
Detectives say DNA tests have concluded the body parts definitely do not belong to him.
"Can you imagine what I've been through?" wept Sharon, of St Austell, Cornwall.
"Everybody thought the body must be Chad - I thought so too.
"After all, nobody else has been reported missing in Newquay.
"I had been preparing myself for the worst and was even organising his funeral.
"And then I got this phone call from the police saying that the DNA had established it wasn't Chad."
She said she also feels the deceased man's family have been cruelly let down by the failure of Devon and Cornwall police to correctly identify him.
"I have been grieving for someone else's son. I want to know who that person is.
"That person also has a mother and his family are in my prayers."
A spokesperson from the force said: "Initial formal identification proved inconclusive and the remains were then sent off for specialist DNA testing.
"The laboratory has since confirmed that the human bones found in the area of Newquay are not those of Chad Gibson, who is missing from St Austell."
It leaves the mystery of Chad's whereabouts open for further investigation.
"The missing person enquiry for Chad will continue to be reviewed on a regular basis", the spokesperson said.
Chad is described as white, of tanned complexion, 6ft 2in tall, with athletic build, brown eyes and a goatee beard.
"It's been a living nightmare", Sharon continued.
"Although I'm very happy this person is not my son, where is Chad?
"Chad is still missing so part of me is happy but another part of me is still feeling very, very sad and lost that I don't know where my beautiful son is."
It's been a living nightmare. Although I'm very happy this person is not my son, where is Chad?
Sharon Gibson
She is hoping TV programme Crimewatch will stage a reconstruction to help with the investigation.
Chad disappeared after leaving his home in West Hill, St Austell, at 10.30am on Saturday December 19th.
He was later seen in Newquay and CCTV footage showed him leaving the Central Inn on Fore Street with two men at 6pm.
Those two men have since assisted detectives.
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