A Bolton man has spoken out about the lack of support his family has received after his brother was killed in Portugal.

Mark Sutcliffe first found out that his brother, Neil, had been stabbed to death in Portugal through social media.

Last week, Neil’s family paid tribute to the former Bolton School pupil, whom they described as ‘amazing, funny, and intelligent’.

Neil, 37, known to some friends as Bingo, died while on holiday in Portugal’s Leiria region last September.

Mark said: “The very nature of how we found out about it was through social media. Somebody got in touch with me on Facebook, and said ‘are you Neil’s brother, I’ve got some bad news for you about Neil, can you ring me?’

“I rung that person, they said ‘I can’t speak to you now, I need to pass you through to somebody else,’ I then rang them and they said ‘I need to pass you to somebody else.’

“Eventually I was put through to somebody over in Portugal who said ‘I’m sorry to tell you this, but your brother’s been murdered.

“You think at first that somebody’s trying to scam you. I went on to the news and put in ‘Portugal murder’.

“Lo and behold, breaking news and it’s got a video of them pulling a body out of the woods. That was the way we found out what was going on.”

Mark says he has found out about developments in the case, such as court updates and decisions, through social media – with the family receiving ‘very little support’ from Portuguese officials.

“We’re not being kept informed, not in the way we should be,” he added.

The family has been trying to find out why there’s a communication breakdown – with their main port of call the British consulate – but so far they haven’t found any concrete answers.

Now, the family is calling for more support for others going through similar circumstances. Follow The Bolton News on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and TikTok.

Mark continued: “There’s no handbook for dealing with this, and I hope as few people as possible have to deal with it, because it’s just horrific. But, you would hope from day one there would be somebody who gets in touch and says ‘right this is going to happen’, and explains what’s going to pan out.

“But, no we’ve not had that. We kind of find things out and we’re having to find things out ourselves.”

The family did praise Homicide Victim Support in Portugal, which they were referred to by the British Consulate.

A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who died in Portugal and are in contact with the local authorities.”

Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã reports that Portugal’s Public Prosecution Service has accused a 28-year-old man of murder, possession of a prohibited weapon, and desecration of a corpse.

A trial is due to take place in Portugal over Neil’s death.