Grandfather of Jack Glenn praying for Dean Millar

Jack Glenn (senior) pictured with his late grandson Jack, who will be laid to rest on Saturday.

Yesterday afternoon, an emotional Jack Glenn Sen., urged the family of teenager, Dean Millar, not to give up hope in bringing him home.

“While the return of young Jack from the Foyle has given our family a certain closure, I am mindful of another local family currently suffering the loss of their loved one to the river,” he said.

“But I would urge Dean’s family to never give up hope. I totally understand what they are going through, but I would appeal to them to never lose hope of getting him back.

“And they will get Dean home, the river will give him back. Given our experience, I’m convinced of that. I’m not an overly religious man, but I do believe in the power of prayer and there have been no shortage of prayers said for my family over the past eight weeks. I have to be honest when I say that I almost gave up on retrieving our Jack recently. I was in despair, tired, both physically and mentally. The worry was horrendous, but you have to believe and I believe Dean will also be brought back to his family.”

Mr. Glenn said the return of his grandson had been a “bittersweet” experience.

He explained: “When it was confirmed that Jack’s body was found, it proved to be a bittersweet moment for us. For eight weeks, we prayed to have him back and, yet, when we did see him, it hit our family hard for a second time.

“However, since then we have welcomed large crowds to our home to pay their respects and we’ve taken great comfort from that. We have great faith in the community and we are particularly grateful to all those people who had been involved in attempting to get Jack back. I won’t mention names because, chances are, I will leave someone out and I don’t want to risk that.

“Our sincere thanks goes out to everyone. We are now preparing for Jack’s Funeral Service. Thankfully, we have a body to bury and a place to visit him. No more looking out the window towards the River Foyle wondering where he is. We are at peace with ourselves and we will say our final farewells at his funeral on Saturday,” concluded Mr. Glenn.

Jack Glenn’s funeral will take place tomorrow (Sat.), with his remains leaving his grandparents’ home at Caw Hill Park at 12.30 p.m. for the short journey to Ebrington Presbyterian Church on Limavady Road.

The Funeral Service will take place at 1.00 p.m. followed by burial in Altnagelvin Cemetery.