Northfield mum Mandy Innes would give anything to hear endless guitar music coming from her son Kieran’s bedroom, just one more time.
Instead, she has to make do with just his plectrum, which she’s had with her every day since his tragic death in 2016.
Kieran was just 24 when he had an as-yet unexplained car accident between Dundee and Aberdeen. Today would have been his 33rd birthday.
We’ve spoken to Mandy about the everyday heirlooms she treasures that keep “larger than life” Kieran still very much a part of their family.
‘We keep a candle burning for Kieran,’ says mum Mandy
“I have his pen with me now,” Mandy smiles. “Every day at work I use it, and have his guitar pick on me all the time too.
“I like to keep his things close to me. It keeps him close to me too.”
Former Northfield Academy pupil Kieran was Mandy and husband Norman’s firstborn.
He arrived weighing a healthy 7lb 6 and 3/4 ounces at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital on January 16 1992. Before long time had flown, and Kieran – with his already infectious personality – started nursery.
Today, a tiny candle is almost always burning in the home where Kieran grew up, in a tiny holder he made at pre-school.
Guitar-mad Kieran loved to help others
When Kieran waved goodbye to Hanover Primary he’d find new hobbies and interests at secondary school.
Although his first few years at Northfield Academy were tough, Kieran channeled the pain of being bullied into volunteering at his school’s Bully Busters programme, helping other children.
Music would also become the perfect escape. He became obsessed with his guitar and ukelele.
After a familiar jaunt to Tesco one evening in the dark, he and his chums started an Indie band aptly named The Late Night Wanderers.
‘He was delighted to have his own car at last’
In his spare time, Kieran coached football for Middlefield Wasps and after leaving school he found a job in facilities for Robertsons.
“The “happy-go-lucky, loveable rogue” was “beyond proud” to be his younger brother Sean’s best man in April 2016, and delighted to be the proud owner of his very own silver Renault Clio.
“He’d had a girlfriend, he was working and he was happy,” said Mandy, an administrator at the University of Aberdeen.
But all that changed on the evening of Monday, September 26 2016.
‘We called the police, something wasn’t right’
“Like any typical young guy he loved going out for drives but when I couldn’t get hold of him I called the police,” Mandy explained.
“His dad went out looking for him too.
“Kieran was obsessed with Brechin City Football Club… no idea why… we figured he might have gone down there and perhaps got hungry so maybe went to McDonalds near Forfar afterwards.”
‘I’ll never forget the police coming to our door’, said mum
But it would be the following morning before a farmer – near the A90 between Dundee and Aberdeen – would alert emergency services on discovering a silver car overturned into an overgrown embankment.
“You couldn’t really see the car from the road. Which meant Kieran was stuck there all night.
“We still don’t know what happened except that he had been to Brechin and then later came off the road and the car flipped.
“I’ll never forget the police appearing to tell us he had been found. His face was all over the papers too.”
‘We’d love to hear our boy’s music one more time’
Kieran left behind his parents, sister Jessica and brother Sean.
“Kieran’s room was above our bathroom,” Mandy said. “Jessica used to say she missed going in and hearing her big brother sing and play his music.
“I’d love to hear him. Just one more time.
“Instead between us we have his guitars, record player and picks. We’ve kept the flower he wore to Sean’s wedding too.
“You’d think after all this time it would get easier but it doesn’t.
“We just miss him so much. He was such a character. It makes us really sad that his nieces didn’t have a chance to get to know him. Though when they were little my grandkids would ask for Uncle Kieran whenever we were in the car. I had a CD of him singing some of his own songs.”
‘Life and soul’ Kieran is still missed in Northfield
Kieran’s loss was – and is – still felt in his community.
Every year a charity football match is played in his memory.
“It’s a cross between a charity fundraiser and a great night out. It’s the perfect way to remember Kieran… music, football and a really good night,” Mandy laughs. “That boy was the life and soul of every party.”
Since his death the family have taken comfort in the small items he left behind.
“You know, he was young. Never dreamt this could happen, so there was no will or plans in place… we just have the bits and pieces that were important to him.
“Jessica plays his records, Sean has a purple guitar pick and I have his robot clock… His dad even carries a Pokemon card he always had with him. That’s the kind of lad he was. He didn’t care what others thought. If he loved it, that was good enough.
“Whenever I use his pen I think about him. Not for one second has he been forgotten.”
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