Mother claims police ‘dragged’ tragic teenager’s body

The heartbroken mother of a teenager found dead on marshland claims a video showed his body “dragged along the ground by cops” in a different location from where she was told.

Stephen Bonner next to floral tributes to his grandson Rhys at the Seven Lochs near Gartloch. Inset, Rhys’ mother Stephanie

Rhys Bonner, 19, vanished on 24 July last year after going to meet a friend in Easterhouse, Glasgow. Two days later was reported as a missing person.

His body was later found in marshland near Easterhouse and nearby Gartloch Village on 8 August.

Police ruled out criminality, but Rhys’s grieving family are convinced the teen, who was found half-naked, was murdered. Campaigners slated an investigation as “postcode policing” and treating him as “another boy from a scheme”.

His mother Stephanie, who had Rhys when she was 17, claims to have been shown a video the family believes shows Rhys’s body being dragged along a field by a Police Scotland search and rescue team.

And the family have been mourning at a spot they now fear was not where Rhys’ body was found as neighbours told them it was the wrong location.

Stephanie, 36, said: “That video is the last thing in my mind every time I close my eyes. Why wasn’t my son treated with dignity?

“He is only a teenager getting dragged half-naked for everyone to see.

“From what I could see, there was no forensics or nothing. They just dragged the body.

“I showed CID the video that was given to me showing his body being dragged and I felt they dismissed it.

“The neighbours have told me it has disturbed them what they saw.” Now the family from Barlarnark, Glasgow, who have lodged a complaint with Police Scotland, want to know if the co-ordinates given by police were in fact wrong or instead reveal that Rhys’s body was dragged an estimated 1,000ft by officers.

Campaigner Alex O’Kane said he believed due to Rhys’s demographic the death was not investigated properly.

Chief Inspector Patrick Murphy said: “Rhys’s death was fully investigated by a dedicated team of officers, who established no criminality. A report was submitted to the Crown and Procurator Fiscal Service.

“We are in regular contact with his family to keep them updated on any new information and keeping them fully informed is a priority for us.”

“A complaint about the police has been received from Rhys’s mother, therefore we are unable to comment further at this stage.”

A Crown Office spokesman added: “The investigation into the death ... has concluded and no further investigation is required.”