'Brunstrom has torn my family apart'

In an exclusive interview with MCN, the brother of Mark Gibney said: “Richard Brunstrom has torn my family apart – he must be removed from power”.

Paul Gibney told MCN how he is desperately trying to hold his family together following the news that Brunstrom showed horrific photographs taken after his brother’s accident to a room full of journalists.

Gibney explained how he formed a pact of silence with his father never to reveal the extent of his brother’s injuries after they identified the body. He said: “We promised never to let my mother or Eileen (Mark’s wife) know what had happened because it would upset them so much. My mother is very old and frail and since the news of Mark has been in the press I’ve never seen her like this before, I hope she’ll be ok.”

However, Brunstrom revealed the images to journalists without seeking the permission of Mark Gibney’s family. Paul Gibney explained how the news confronted them: “I was in the gym and it came up on the news programme on TV. Mark’s 21-year-old son found out when friend’s told him about it. Eileen heard the news on the radio – she was in shock, and she’s not stopped crying since. She hasn’t been home since Friday.

“My biggest worry is that Mark’s seven and eight-year-old children will be told the news by their class mates at school; we didn’t want them to know how their father died – the youngest was only two at the time of his death.”

Paul Gibney told how the family were: “slowly moving forward” after Mark’s death but how this recent turn of events had “devastated” the family.

Since the news broke on Friday Gibney said his: “head has been everywhere”. He has been forced to come to terms with his brother’s accident afresh. To help him deal with the latest trauma he spent all day on Saturday riding the roads in North Wales on his Kawasaki ZX-6R that his brother used to love.

Now Paul Gibney is actively campaigning to see Brunstrom removed from his position as Chief Constable of North Wales Police. He said: “I don’t want to see him retired on full police pension; I want him to live in the gutter where he belongs. He’s torn my family apart. What right did he have to do this to us? He’s not a stupid man, he knew what he was doing – he must have known what would happen if he showed this image to a room full of journalists, it should never have happened. ”

Over 500 MCN readers have already registered to call for Brunstrom’s dismissal. If you’d like to add your name to the list, then email mcn.online@emap.com, now, with your full name and address.