THE MOTHER of a former Bradford man who died in the Malaysian jungle says she is still searching for answers exactly a year after her beloved son’s body was found.

Janet Southwell – the mother of Gareth Huntley, who lived and went to school in Apperley Bridge – described the last 12 months as like “living a nightmare."

His long-awaited funeral will take place at Leeds Minster tomorrow, but Mrs Southwell says the occasion will mark a reality she still "doesn’t want to accept".

Mr Huntley, 34, went missing on Tioman Island on May 27 last year, where he was spending a week as a wildlife volunteer working with sea turtles, before being due to start a new job in Singapore.

His body was discovered eight days later, on June 4, in a pond just yards from a kayak storage shed used by the turtle project, but only formally identified after Mrs Southwell, who had travelled to the island with her son’s father, gave blood to hospital staff so a DNA comparison could be made.

"I didn't have a mind of my own at the time, I was totally numb," she said.

"I still am, because I still don't believe what has happened.

"We know nothing. The police in the UK are actively trying to get information from Malaysia, but responses are hard to come by.

"We've got a post-mortem report, but no photographs with it, so it's incomplete.

"We just don't have the answers.

"It's illogical and crazy, but I can't get it into my head that he won't ever be here again."

At the time Mr Huntley’s body was discovered, reports suggested that Malaysian detectives were treating his death as suspicious, but a post-mortem examination found the cause of death to be unknown.

"There is a date set for an inquest in Malaysia at the end of June, and I will go to that, so maybe I'll find something out then,” said Mrs Southwell.

"It's been so hard because you have to constantly prompt people and say, we're haven't got an answer, has this been done?

"If somebody says a person was murdered abroad, there is lots of support and guidance that falls into place.

"But, because nobody has turned around and said that, we are doing this on our own.

"It's caused a huge amount of more than just stress. It's traumatic, it's like living a nightmare.

"It's not something that happens to a normal person.

"You might go to the movies and see it, but it doesn't happen to ordinary people, and we don't deserve it."

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said yesterday that the department was in “regular contact” with Mr Huntley’s family and the Malaysian Authorities, adding it would continue to provide support wherever possible.

Mrs Southwell, who lives in the Bradford district, also contacted Mark Burns-Williamson, the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, for help, and the pair met to discuss her concerns over the investigation carried out by Malaysian Police.

He said yesterday: “I contacted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to raise Mrs Southwell’s concerns about the investigation, and I liaised with West Yorkshire Police to make sure, between us, everything possible was being done to get the answers that Mrs Southwell and her family need.”

Family and friends of Mr Huntley are set to travel from far and wide to attend his funeral tomorrow, an occasion Mrs Southwell says will be made harder by the long delay.

“You don't normally have time to think about things, it's just natural," she said.

“If that had happened, maybe I would have believed it more than I do.

“I've got to the point where I know it has happened, but I can't accept it.

“The funeral is reality, but I don't want to accept that reality.

"We need to have it, but I don't want to move on, as I don't want to leave Gareth behind.

"In no way will it be a relief, it's going to be harder having waited so long.

"And knowing we're a year on with still no answers.”

Mr Huntley was born in St Austell, Cornwall, but moved with his family to Bradford aged 11, attending Woodhouse Grove School before studying at university in Manchester and Leeds and then moving to work in London.

Paying tribute to her son, the middle sibling of three brothers, she said: “He believed passionately about humanity and consideration for all, no matter what they believed in or their place in society.

“No-one was any better than anyone else.

"He had a mischievous approach which won him a lot of hearts.

"People will remember him as being fun-loving, adventurous, and someone who wanted to gain as much knowledge about the world as he could.

"He was a big-hearted individual, an amazing young man.”