Man found on Rossall Beach was ‘passionate’ football player who was ‘always trying to help people’

The body of Jordan Tenbey, 25, of Kings Road, Cleveleys, was found on Saturday morning.

His brother Thomas, 30, said he would be remembered as a talented football player and guitarist who was popular with family and friends.

He said: “He took a great interest in politics. He didn’t follow any one particular party - he was quite anti-establishment about it all. He had talked about running as a councillor as an independent.

“He was very passionate about Brexit; he was very passionate about homelessness and people that were impoverished. He was always trying to help people.

“He liked to help people help themselves. he was always trying to lift them up.”

Jordan had recently returned to Cleveleys from Glasgow, where he had been working taking down Christmas lights.

On January 25, the day before his body was found, he spent the evening with his dad, Stephen, listened to the radio and talked about politics.

The following morning Stephen realised his son was not in his room, and searched for him before calling the police. Thomas was called to identify Jordan’s body shortly afterwards.

It is believed Jordan left the house some time after his father went to bed at 10.30pm.

A man, believed to be Jordan, was spotted sitting on the steps oppostite Kingsway Avenue in Cleveleys by a passerby at around 1.30am.

When the witness looked back, the man had vanished and, fearing he had gone into the sea, the emergency services were alerted

A three hour search was carried out by the RNLI and coastguard helicopter, however they were unable to locate him.

Jordan’s body was found close to the junction of Chatsworth Avenue and Fairway on Saturday.

His death is not being treated as suspicious.

Thomas said his brother was not known to have a history of mental illness, but had seemed ‘paranoid’ in the weeks before his death.

“I thought Jordan might have had some sort of depression, but he was never diagnosed with anything,” he said. “It seems obvious now, but he reached out to a few people a few days beforehand. He wasn’t saying he needed help or that he was really unwell. He just wanted to reconnect with people.

“The feeling of the family is that this wasn’t planned. It wasn’t something he had thought about for a while. We feel it was a spur of the moment thing and once it started he couldn’t stop it.

“I was feeling guilty in that I could have done more. I realise now that I was just living my life, and if I had known this was going on I could have stepped up.

“There’s social stigma surrounding mental health issues, and men feel not particularly able to speak about it. They are often told ‘just man up’ We want to remove that. We need to address the problems that people are facing with mental health because the only way to remove that stigma is to talk about it.

“What really is necessary is that everyone needs at least one good friend that they can lean on in a personal crisis.

“Jordan had a lot of friends, but he didn’t have anyone he could rely on except for my dad. He wouldn’t come to you with problems. If anything, he’d come to you with solutions to your problems. He was strong in that regard.”

Jordan leaves behind his brother, dad, older sister Charlotte and mum Catherine Stanley.

Thomas has now set up a charity page to raise money for Jordan’s funeral, which is to be arranged. Visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/jordantenbey.

Help is available 24 hours a day from emotional support charity Samaritans. Call them free on 116 123.