Police later apologised for distress caused to the family
Any mother's worst nightmare is to be told something terrible has happened to her children, worst of all to be told they're dead. For one mother in Northampton, this became reality when police officers knocked on her door in January 2020 to say her 39-year-old son was dead.
Mr McDonnell told The Mirror in 2020: "I've got the same name as the lad who died. I'm guessing they found his name on his ID. "He came in and said 'would you like to sit down', I said 'why', he looked me in the face and said 'is your son Wesley? I've got some bad news, I'm sorry to tell you that Wesley just passed away'.
The equally surprised police officers in Anita's house then spoke to Mr McDonnell once he had picked up for his mum. He told them he had not been on Facebook since 2015 after they asked him when he was last on the site, they also questioned whether he had any connections to Liverpool and requested proof of his identity.
The same day, Merseyside Police rang Anita and said they had identified her son through Facebook with no other lines of enquiry. "That's how they did it, they looked on Facebook" said Mr McDonnell. "They put two and two together and got five."
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