Six days before Christmas Gareth Harding, 32, was found dead in bed at a homeless hostel. His brother Tim has shed light on the troubled years leading up to his death. After losing his mum to alcohol abuse at just 17, Gareth hit the bottle and spent the rest of his days battling his demons.

Tim talked to reporter Joe Walker about how his brother’s death was a tragic end to an often tragic life.

IT’S fair to say life never dealt the greatest hand to Gareth Harding and his older brother Tim.
The sons of an alcoholic mum and absent fathers, their troubled childhood was always going to shape the way they lived their adult lives.
Tim, now 36, was first to fly the nest, leaving home and vowing not to speak to his troubled mum Lesley until she kicked the bottle.
Six months later she was found dead from liver failure after a lifelong battle with alcohol.
Her death would later have a devastating effect on her younger son’s life, as the older one was left to pick up the pieces.
Tim said: “For as long as I can remember she was an alcoholic. It was a part of our lives and definitely had an effect on Gareth.
“As brothers, we’d been through stuff most people never have to deal with. She loved us both, but couldn’t beat the drink. It was her demon.”

After Lesley’s death, Gareth’s stepfather sold the family home in Oxenden Square, Herne Bay, thrusting the 17-year-old into the big, wide world.
Tim said: “Gareth was just left to his own devices. He’d only just left Herne Bay High but had to learn to fend for himself. He was just a boy.
“He put on a brave face for a couple of years but then it all got on top of him and he turned to alcohol.
“Things slowly started to spiral out of control. Mum’s death hit him hard and the alcohol started to take a grip of his life.
“He couldn’t deal with the outside world and was paranoid about everything.
“It was like history repeating itself. I fought so much against him drinking, but was having to come to terms with mum’s death as well.”

Struggling to beat the booze at his flat in Mortimer Street, Herne Bay, Gareth quickly started to lose control of his life.
He was in and out of hospital after failed suicide attempts and racked up numerous convictions for petty crimes.
Tim said: “He tried to beat the drink but just couldn’t get on top of it.
“He was diagnosed with a personality disorder and put on medication, which just made the drinking worse. He took quite a few overdoses and was in and out of mental homes.
“I tried to help as much as I could, but there was only so much I could do.”

Gareth’s life reached breaking point when he was jailed for three months in 2007 after breaking into Herne windmill.
Tim said: “They weren’t going send him to prison but he told the court that’s what he wanted. “He knew he had a problem and thought it was the best place for him to get off the drink.
“I was really worried because I thought he might be introduced to other things inside, but he came out a different person.”

After leaving prison, Gareth was put in a halfway house in Canterbury and started to turn his life around.
In March last year he moved to Guildford Lodge – a 24-hour hostel in Nunnery Fields, Canterbury, run by homeless charity Porchlight.
Tim said: “It was good for him because there were strict rules about no drink or drugs and he had people watching over him. They were keeping him in line. Things were looking up for him for the first time in a long time.”
Gareth sought help for his drinking and mental health problems, but suffered a relapse in September.
Tim said: “It was his birthday and he started drinking for two weeks. He called me up and was really apologetic, saying he was knocking it on the head for good. We had a rule that I didn’t speak to him when he’d been drinking.”

Six days before Christmas, Tim received a call he’ll remember for the rest of the life.
He said: “It was the police. My initial thought was Gareth had gone off the rails again and they had him in a cell, but then they said he was dead.
“That phone call was the single worst experience of my life. It was so terrible.
“It was just before Christmas and there was nothing I could do. I was just numb with shock. It really hit me when I got a Christmas card from him on Christmas Eve.”

Tim’s grief was intensified after he found an unsent letter from Gareth to his dad, who he had never met.
He said: “He never knew him. All he had was a name and a picture of him in his Army uniform.
“But a few months before he died he managed to find him.

"He wanted to get in contact but decided to wait until he was stronger.
“When I was clearing out his room I found a letter he had planned to send to his dad. It was really, really upsetting to see it, as he wanted more than anything to meet him.”

An inquest has been opened into Gareth’s death, but Tim says a post-mortem examination suggested he died of natural causes.
He said: “I’m really hoping that’s what it is because I had pictured a quite dramatic end, with him surrounded by broken alcohol bottles.
“It’s just so tragic because he was really starting to turn his life around.
“When he was himself he was always happy, laughing and joking. He was a real character.
“Loads of people have left tributes to him on Facebook, which is really comforting.
“He didn’t have the best of lives, so to see all those messages was absolutely wonderful.”

Gareth’s funeral will be held at Barham crematorium at noon on Friday, January 21.
Beatles hits Imagine, Good Night, Let It Be and Yellow Submarine will all be played.
Tim said: “He loved his music and his one real passion in life was The Beatles. He even looked like John Lennon.”

• This article should have been printed on page 5 of this week's Herne Bay Gazette (January 13). We apologise for the error.