US student friends pay tribute to blaze Scot

murder victim Thomas Sharkey has been honoured by his fellow students at his former university in the United States.

Golf prodigy Thomas, 21, was a student at Georgia Southern University before he was killed in a fire at his family home in Helensburgh, along with his sister Bridget, eight, and father Thomas snr, 55.

His mother Angela, 46, was the only survivor of the flat fire on 24 July.

Strathclyde Police are treating all three deaths as murder.

Yesterday, friends and fellow students at Georgia Southern paid tribute to the young Scot, who moved to the US after winning a golf scholarship in 2008.

Sam Baker, athletics director at the university, said before the memorial service at St Matthew Parish Catholic Church, near the university campus, that the service was an opportunity for people to talk about a “friend that’s lost”.

He said: “It’s so devastating to hear of a young life that has ended so early.”

Thomas jnr’s former golf coach, Larry Mays, said Thomas was “a good team-mate, but a better friend, to those who knew him”.

Mr Mays said: “This is our time to shine some light on his life and remember the good times we had with him and to have closure here on campus. Any time that someone dies that’s been a friend, it leaves you empty.”

Mrs Sharkey spoke out on Friday, saying she had been so heavily sedated after the fire that she believed her dead son was visiting her in her hospital bed.

She said she has “no idea” who was responsible for the fire, or why it happened, but appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

Crimestoppers has offered a £10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever committed the crime.