New Richey info?
 

Hi all. I used to post regularly on various Manics forums but haven't been active among the Manics fanbase in a long time. I'm just popping back because of some rather surprising information I came across.

Earlier this week I made a comment on Facebook about how I used to love the Manics when I was younger. At this point one of my cousins popped up and asked, "Did I ever tell you my family's Richey story?" I said no, you hadn't.

Just for a bit of background info, my aunt Gerry sadly passed away in 2008. She was something of a colourful character, with lots of cats, but to the best of my knowledge was never a fantasist. She spent a long time in recovery from alcoholism, and as a result was very active in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Anyway, after my cousin asked me if I'd heard the story, he then pointed me to this forum thread. "Stevebloke" is my cousin.

http://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMy...eet_preachers/

I have something to add to this thread. It's not a lie, and I'm sure my mother wasn't lying, so it's more-than-likely either a case of mistaken identity or real.

My mum claimed to have met him several times in London, at AA meetings - I believe it was the Whittington Hospital meeting which is close to Highgate so they used to get a fair few celebrities in. This would be after the time of his dissapearance.

She didn't know who he was at first, and in a phone conversation with me she asked me "Do you know a Richie or Richard from a band who's dissapeared ? He doesn't want to tell me who he is, but I'm sure he's a musician" - I said that yes, I did - I wasn't a massive fan but I knew about the dissapearance.

My mum then later told me that she'd seen a tattoo on his arm - they'd been sitting outside another AA meeting in the sun, having a smoke - and she'd looked at the tattoo on his arm - "You're not useless, you know", she'd said to him. Richey has a tattoo on his arm that says "Useless Generation" - at least that's what I think it says.

I asked my mother on occasion, whether or not she kept in touch with Richey and she said that she did, and that he was living under a different name in Philadelphia.

My mother died 5 years ago this month. I've often wondered if he's out there. If he is and he's reading this - then Richey my mum Gerry Wheatley (Cat Lady Gerri) passed away on 9th July 2008. Hope you're well.

Like I say, no word of this is a lie.

After seeing this, I had a discussion with Gerry's former partner. He not only confirms the story, but also claims to have met Richey too. He states that he popped in to see her at their home in Paignton, Devon. According to him he only stayed for an hour, and didn't give much away, but he certainly looked like him. He arrived in a posh-looking car, and was with a very glamorous-looking blonde American woman. Gerry swore him to secrecy at the time.

I asked her partner about whether he had tattoos or a Welsh accent. He said he couldn't see any tattoos as he was wearing a long black coat. He couldn't make out an accent, but remembers him being very soft-spoken (anyone who's heard a TV/radio interview with Richey will know that he was/is soft-spoken).

I'm wondering what to make of it all, to be honest. The descriptions seem to fit, and the members of my family involved aren't the sort of people to make stuff up. Of course it's possible that they may have had an encounter with someone else who was a bit of a Richey fantasist and decided to impersonate him, but if so it sounds like someone who bore a strong resemblance to him.

If it's true, and he was attending AA meetings in Highgate, then that suggest there may have been an element of "hiding in plain sight", which one does hear stories about. I'm reminded of Radovan Karadzic, spending 12 years on the run from NATO, only to be found practising as an alternative therapist in downtown Belgrade.

If he is living in Philadelphia under a new name, I doubt there's much that could be done to track him down. After all, Philly's a big place, and he probably doesn't want to be found anyway.

Still, if it's true then it's nice to hear that he may have not only survived but apparently prospered after he disappeared. :)

It's not April Fools so this might be a real thread. Ok.
I am not saying your aunt lied to anyone. But there are many (and used to be more) Richey fans with his same Useless Generation Tattoo, mimicking his voice, looks, vices everything. I am sure he is out there somewhere, but this sounds like a lookalike having some issues.

Philadelphia? lol Posh car and blonde american?

Indeed not an April fools.

I don't think Gerry's family are lying, but an encounter with an impersonator is indeed a possibility.

first off i think, and indeed on behalf of all of us, so sorry to hear of the bereavements and tough times in your family. i hardly need to say be strong as you clearly are, but know here you are part of the international Manics family.

if it was Richey or someone with a resemblance or even obsession with him, well, hope he is OK.

the thing one has to always remember is that Richey disappeared as far as anyone can work out, he didn't go missing. he doesn't want to be found.

alive or dead, the only thing any Manics fan can really do is hope that he is at peace with himself and the world.

As Mar said, I'm not accusing you, but this really seems weird. Hopefully, he's still out there and doing fine.
For his sake, I hope that your story is true, but we'll never know.

hmmm I would think hiding in plain sight using your own name and with a very distinctive tattoo would be a very dangerous thing to do if you didn't want to be found. Especially for a celebrity. So no, I don't believe it was him.

Load of rubbish

Alcoholics Anonymous is a daft name. The first thing you do there is stand up and tell everyone your name and that you're an alcoholic. (I'm going on the TV versions of such groups, I've never been!)

Oh well, case closed.

Let's not be quite so rude, yeah I'm dubious as many would be, but thanks nonetheless for putting this out there.

Interesting story, but i guess like a lot of the other storys that cropped up after his disappearence, we'll never really know how much truth ( if any ) is in them will we?

Thanks for sharing though.

Interesting story but I would say maybe an impersonator. I mean would any bloke say to a woman what his name was and then say "don't tell anyone", thats like 'reg rag to a bull' for all the women I've ever known or met:D

Interesting story and great if true-purely for the sake of his family and band mates,as just a fan all i can say is that i hope wherever Richey is that i hope he is at peace with himself.

However-like with the other reported sightings im a little dubious ( and that is no offence to you my friend )

Is "Gerry" your mother or your aunt? See above :up:

She's my aunt. The guy posting about it in the Reddit thread is her son.

Ah, ok cheers, makes a bit more sense now!

I've no idea, but has anyone actually passed this info along to the police? If it is found to be credible I'm sure his family would like to know!

^ There's no real evidence to follow up, though, is there? I'm sure there's a lot of these stories, real or not.

Given that most leads would be based on eyewitness evidence, and the police take eyewitness evidence very seriously, I would have thought it should be reported. It is up to them whether they take it forward

Perhaps at the time, but I'm not sure about 18 years later when the eyewitness has passed away?

Philadelphia? Who would spread such a thing?

Maybe he likes cheese??

I just can't comprehend how a man who very publicly disappeared did not get noticed walking around London and going to AA meetings....

I know the first rule of AA is you don't talk about AA but even that is a bit hard to believe!

I'm inclined to agree that there's probably not much point in making a police report.

Even assuming that what happened is accurate (and even I'm prepared to concede that it's possible my aunt simply had a run-in with an over-obsessive fanboy rather than Richey himself) then it's information that he was living in Philadelphia 5 years ago on the testimony of a deceased witness. And besides, if it's accurate, that means he was safe and well and didn't want to get in contact (which he's legally entitled to do). I doubt it would get the police going door-to-door in Philadelphia.

Was Richeys passport missing? if not, how did he get to america with no passport?

What I meant is that it should have been reported when it happened

He found one whilst at the AA meeting and luckily it looked just like him.

You can always get false passports if you know the right people;)

Thanks for sharing this story - it was entertaining - but I highly highly doubt it was Richey. If he's still alive, he's probably living in a small town/village and working in a very boring, run of the mill job for a basic salary. I think this is what Wire and the rest of the band believe has become of him (if he's still alive, of course) and after his family, they knew him best. In fact, I highly doubt he left Wales for any significant period of time after his disappearance (again, if he's still alive).

Or you can cross the boarder without documents if you only know the right spots. But he must have been a huge adventurer to take a boat from Great Britain to the USA.

That would be practically impossible I think.

I thought in everything, Simon Price said it was easier to get passports in 1995, or did I make that up?

More to the point, how could he have stayed? You can't just hang out in america indefinitely, you'd have to have a visa or apply for citizenship.

As far as I know there are a lot of illegal immigrants in USA, aren't there?
Richey could have been one of them.
I don't believe it's Richey though :P

If you say you lost your passport they give you another one. So you have 2.
Or you can buy a fake one, or get a friend's one.

I'm sure the Passport Office would have been the first thing the police would have checked if he had tried to get another one. Also for someone who was so close to his family he would have to be a bit of an evil bastard to walk round living a normal life somewhere else without letting them know.

He could have got another one months before. Or from a friend as I said.

I tend to believe that the idea of deliberatly disappearing is not consistent with his attachment to his family. However, my only doubt is that those who are suicidal can think that they are a drain on their family. It is possible that if he deliberatly went missing that he thought along these lines. The longer her was away the more difficult it could be to get back in touch.

I would think it would be almost impossible to get back in touch now. The guilt he would be feeling....

If he got back in touch with his family why they should tell us if he asks them not to.

Not usually ones who've arrived legally by plane though. The police would be looking for him.