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The night before Darren's death he sent his mum text messages with hugs and kisses. He seemed upbeat; In an achingly moving interview - his first since his son's tragic death - Tony Sutherland reveals their three-hour phone call the night before the boxer took his life, how his wife had battled to help Darren overcome the difficulties of living away from home and their concerns about his training regime.

Article Excerpt
Byline: by Eva Marie Gibney and Brian Carroll

IT WAS a 7.30pm knock on the door of the Sutherland family home in Navan, Co. Meath, that first alerted boxing prodigy Darren's family to the tragic events that came to pass on Monday.

But it had been some four hours since their son's lifeless body had been found in a modest flat in Bromley, Kent, miles away from his training gyms in east London.

Now Darren's father, Tony, has asked why it took more than four hours for the family to be notified about their son's death. And he has clarified some of the outstanding issues around his son's disputed mental health issues.

Tony Sutherland told the Mail: 'It took four-and-a-half hours for anyone to tell me that my son was dead.

'Gardai called to my door at 7.30pm and broke the news to me and my family - four and a half hours after Frank had discovered that my son was dead.'

It was only late on Monday night that the Sutherlands were contacted by Darren's manager, Frank Maloney.

'By that time I just put down the phone on him - my wife [Linda] was in a state at that stage and I couldn't talk to him or anyone.' The family's anguish is piqued further by the hours they spent ignorant of what had happened.

He added: 'The only reason Frank called to the apartment the next day was because Darren never turned up for training.

'He called to the apartment around 12pm and never got an answer at the door so he returned a few hours later around 3pm with another person and that's when they discovered Darren.

'And it took until 7.30pm that evening when...