Richey Edwards 'presumed dead' after 13 years

The Manics with Richey Edwards (centre)
The Manics with Richey Edwards (centre)

Manic Street Preachers' guitarist and songwriter Richey Edwards was yesterday 'presumed dead' after disappearing almost 14 years ago. Richey's parents Graham and Sherry Edwards were granted a court order for the declaration to be made official.

Many fans believe that Richey Edwards is still alive, and until now so did his parents. Mr and Mrs Graham had the option to make the court order in 2002, but chose to keep his status as 'missing'.

The remaining three band members have yet to comment, but the news closely follows Nicky Wire's, James Dean Bradfield's and Sean Moore's announcement that the next Manic Street Preachers album will feature "lyrics left to us by Richey. Finally it feels like the right time to use them."

A statement which, as of yesterday, could not be more appropriate.

Tom Porter worked on MusicRadar from its mid-2007 launch date to 2011, covering a range of music and music making topics, across features, gear news, reviews, interviews and more. A regular NAMM-goer back in the day, Tom now resides permanently in Los Angeles, where he's doing rather well at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).