‘Cheeky chap’ Joshua Kershaw’s family on the last time they spoke to him in Thailand

21-year-old Joshua was tragically found dead in his hotel room, his family said

The family of “cheeky and happy” Grimsby man Joshua Kershaw have spoken of their devastation after he was tragically found dead in Thailand. Joshua, 21, had travelled to the Asian country for a week’s stay on January 12 when he stopped responding to his mum Jenny’s phone calls.

The young landscaper travelled to Bangkok and had told his family that he was set to travel to the southern city of Pattaya for the trip. He had visited the city a month before on another week-long visit to Thailand at the start of December.

However, this week his family revealed the tragic news that Joshua’s body was discovered by staff in the Bangkok hotel room he was staying in. The family have said he was found in his bed with a bandage around his arm.

Tragically, they have said he was found on Wednesday, January 14, but as they had told the British Embassy he was missing in Pattaya where they thought he had travelled to, no one knew.

According to the family, on Saturday, January 17, Jenny contacted the police about Joshua, who then put his case on high alert on January 20. They then later confirmed he was tragically found dead. The family say his cause of death is currently unknown.

Joshua’s auntie Jade Kershaw said they cannot return his body home until an investigation into his death and a post-mortem have been completed. Jade, from Wakefield, said: “He was a cheeky chap and so full of joy. He was always happy and there were never any bad moment with him.

“He leaves behind his four little sisters, who all love him so much. He just loved to travel.

“He would go on holiday, come back and work for a couple of months, and then head back out. On the day he arrived, he called home and he was doing fine, talking to Jenny about his journey.

“He then told her he was going to get some food, and then we hadn’t heard from him since. We thought he had made it to Pattaya, but the police told us he never left Bangkok.

“It was so unlike him not to reply to messages or pick up his mum’s calls, he spoke to her every day. We didn’t report him was missing at first as we thought he might have just lost his phone.

“But then Jenny got worried. We started the GoFundMe and were planning to go and look for him in Thailand next week.

“Police came round this morning [Wednesday] at around 8am at Jenny’s house, and told her he has passed. She is absolutely devastated by the news.

“Hopefully, the post-mortem won’t take long as we want him back home.”

In a heartbreaking message on social media, Jenny said: “As much as my heart is breaking right now, we have now located Josh, but unfortunately he was not alive. We are now trying to get his body back to the UK.”

Joshua had been scheduled to return to the UK on January 19 at 8.30pm (Thai time), with an expected arrival at London Heathrow on January 20 at 6.25am. The family have confirmed that he did not board this flight, which was verified by police officials.

Jade said that she drove for five hours to Heathrow to check if he had managed to get on the flight home, but he was nowhere to be found at the airport. She revealed that the family have been liaising with international funeral directors to assist in bringing his body back to the UK.

According to Jade, it is still uncertain as to when Joshua will be returned to the UK. She stated that the funds raised from the GoFundMe will now be used to cover the costs of repatriating Joshua’s body to the UK and his funeral expenses.

The GoFundMe is located here: https://gofund.me/094547df2