‘Gentle’ father died with his dog in Christmas canal boat fire | Manchester News

Tributes have been paid to a “gentle” father-of-three who died alongside his dog in a fire on a house boat on Christmas Day.

Philip Murphy, 43, was found dead by emergency services who were called to the fire at Crooke Hall Moorings in Standish, Greater Manchester, at 03:30 GMT on 25 December.

The Army veteran, who worked as a paramedic for North West Ambulance Service, lived on the boat with his five-year-old service dog Hugo, who also died in the fire.

His eldest daughter, Juliette Murphy, 23, said: “He was the fun dad who always knew how to make us laugh. He just had a lot of love to give. Helping people is who he was, he was gentle.”

Murphy also leaves his children Ash, 19, and Fionn, 16.

Juliette Murphy said her father, also known as Gabe, had been at a pub in Wigan his dog just hours before they were found dead.

He had been living on the barge after becoming homeless.

“He’d recently really struggled with his mental health because he’d been in the army, he had really bad PTSD,” she said.

“He had his own issues and stuff, but he recently re-enrolled into Open University to do counselling to help others in his position.”

She added: “I think that that just says a lot about him as a person.

“He always just wanted to help other people.

“He always wanted to make sure other people were happy before himself.”

She said she needs to know how the fire started to help her deal with her loss.

“This really bad thing happened and we don’t really know why,” she said.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said: “Just after 3.30am on Friday 25 December, three fire engines from Wigan and Hindley, along with the technical response unit from Leigh and water incident unit from Eccles, attended an incident on Crooke Road, Wigan.

“Firefighters were in attendance for around 13 hours.”

Greater Manchester Police are continuing to investigate the cause of the fire.

Murphy had lived in Manchester for 10 years after leaving the army, his daughter said.

The healthcare assistant who lives in Burnley, Lancashire, said she was told about her father’s death when she woke up to a phone call at about 07:00 GMT on Christmas morning.

She said she felt the full weight of the trauma when she learnt that Hugo had been cremated and his ashes “disposed of”.

“Hugo was my dad’s shadow,” she said. “They didn’t go anywhere without each other.

“Hugo was taken by a charity who I couldn’t get in touch with, and then eight or nine days after Christmas we were told that they’ve cremated him and disposed of his ashes by accident.”

“We were just in complete shock.

“I was just inconsolable,” she said.

“I think it was the first time I’d actually cried because it hadn’t really sunk in and then this exacerbated it.

“Hugo really, really helped him become a person again I’d say, so it’s just really upsetting that we couldn’t have them be together.

“The fire took everything, there are no belongings left from the boat and no memories we can hold onto physically.

“That’s just all I really wanted and not having that – it was a bit of a blow.”

Juliette Murphy said it has been “exhausting” and “frustrating” trying to manage since her dad’s death.

She said: “I’m 23 and my siblings are 19 and 16.

“It’s very exhausting – they’re quite young so it’s hard for them to digest all of it and try and get on with life.”

Funeral costs have also been a worry for her, as she is getting married later in the year.

“Because my dad was still so young there was no life insurance or funeral plan in place,” she said.

“I want my siblings to be able to grieve safely and not need to worry about anything.

“I considered cancelling my wedding just to pay for my dad’s funeral.

“But we had booked everything in and would have just ended up losing out on more money to be honest.

“My dad would be beside himself if he felt I had to choose between getting married – which is the one thing I’ve always wanted – and having to pay for his funeral.”

After raising more than £5,000 to help with funeral costs, she said she is grateful that this financial strain has now been lifted.