Police track down man in Stephen Gately's flat at time of his death

11 April 2012
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Police in Majorca have tracked down the Bulgarian man in Stephen Gately's flat at the time the singer died.

Devastated: Andy Cowles, left, found his partner Stephen Gately dead in the living room of their £1 million apartment

Giorgi Duchev is believed to have arrived home with the Boyzone star and his partner Andrew Cowles after meeting him in a gay club.

Today, after giving police a statement, the 25-year-old told a friend he was "devastated" by the pop star's death and added:" I haven't had a wink of sleep since it happened".

It was revealed today that Mr Cowles desperately tried to resuscitate the star after he found him slumped on a sofa. He performed the kiss of life after waking to find the singer collapsed at their Majorca apartment.

A judge overseeing the police investigation will now take witnesses statements from both Mr Cowles and the Bulgarian man Gately's family today dismissed reports that the 33-year-old singer had been on an eight-hour drinking session before his death, saying he was a "sensible man" and insisting his death was a "tragic accident".

Lawyer Gerald Kean said: "I'm not suggesting that he wasn't drinking, not at all. But certainly not for eight hours.

"He spoke to a family member at about 12.30am on Saturday, he was on great form and getting ready to go out in Palma, which would have taken them an hour to get to.

"He would have got to Palma about 2am and I know he got back to his home before 6am, so he was only out for a few hours.

"He was a very sensible man. He enjoyed himself, he loved life. I was with him many a night and, if anything, late into nights he would look as though he had just arrived."

Gately's Boyzone bandmates flew to Majorca by private jet last night to comfort Cowles at the apartment he shared with Gately, 33, in Puerto Andratx. They had married in a civil ceremony three years ago.

The band - Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch - made no comment as they left the apartment after just over an hour, keeping their heads down and wearing dark glasses.

Earlier Keating had said: "I'm devastated. We have lost a brother." After leaving Cowles, Boyzone travelled to the Mon Port Hotel, a few miles away, where they stayed up until late in the restaurant, paying tribute to their friend.

Boyzone manager Louis Walsh was due to fly to Dublin today to be with Gately's family. Walsh, a close friend of Gately, was distraught upon hearing of his death and pulled out of last night's X Factor show to travel to Ireland.

He jetted back to London last night but his spokeswoman said he was due to fly back to Dublin today, although he had been in contact with the groups he is mentoring for the ITV talent show.

She said: "He has been speaking to them and will see them all at the end of the week. He is due to appear on The X Factor this weekend, but it depends on when Stephen's funeral is."

Meanwhile, Spanish police said they hoped to trace a Bulgarian man called Giorgio who Gately and Cowles had invited to their £1m home after they met at a gay nightclub. Reports today suggested Gately had been found in a kneeling position with his face buried in the sofa.

A post mortem may not take place until tomorrow because today is a bank holiday in Spain.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in