THE family of a man who died in freezing temperatures have spoken of their horror after his body was found where his brother perished ten years earlier.

Terry McGann was found by a shopper behind Wilkinson's store, in East Street, in Darlington town centre, on Friday.

Although his wife and family live in the town's Hercules Street, Mr McGann, an alcoholic, had been sleeping rough.

The body of his younger brother, Gerald, who was also an alcoholic, was found in the same place beneath the NPC car park in 1993.

Gerald was known as the Golden Guzzler in the 1980s, and gained a reputation for boozing.

Speaking yesterday, one of Terry's sons, also called Terry, said: "He really missed Gerry, and he said when he died he wanted to go the same way.

"He had always been a drinker, but when Gerry died he got worse. I think he would have wanted to die in the same place as his brother."

Another of Mr McGann's brothers, John, was found dead in a bedsit, in Milbank Road, in the early 1990s.

Terry Jnr said: "He was devastated by the loss of his brothers and by the death of his mum and dad."

Like Gerald, Terry was in the Army when younger and served around the world. In 2000 he married his fourth wife, Fay Robson, whom he had been with for five years. He was stepfather to her six children.

She said: "He may have been an alcoholic but he was a good man. He was a loving father to the kids and he worshipped the ground I walked on."

Mr McGann told his family last week that he had suffered a mild heart attack and received hospital treatment, but continued to drink heavily and sleep outside.

His family are convinced it was the cold weather on Thursday night that killed him.

A post-mortem examination revealed no suspicious circumstances, and the coroner is awaiting results of toxicology tests.

Mrs Robson said: "He was well known in the town and I am sure he will be missed by a lot of people."