A COMMUNITY came together to attempt to find a beloved football fan from Basildon.

The inquest into Jack Morrad’s death has been held, concluding that he died as a result of drowning in the fishing lake at Gloucester Park, Basildon whilst intoxicated.

He was missing for a total of 12 days before his body was eventually discovered.

But in those 12 days a gigantic amount of support and work went into trying to find him.

Concerns were first raised about Mr Morrad, 28, just before Christmas 2018.

He was last seen in the early hours of December 23, after having spent the day watching his beloved West Ham with pals before going on to the Beehive pub, and then to Colors nightclub, in Basildon.

He was seen on CCTV walking towards Gloucester Park at around 2.30am that morning.

He was wearing a blue Christmas jumper, a red Santa hat, pale blue jeans and white trainers.

He was a West Ham season ticket holder and had travelled to London Stadium to watch the team play on that day.

The following day, he was reported missing, and the appeals went out to try and locate him.

West Ham FC themselves ended up getting involved in the campaign to find him, displaying his image and a message on the illuminated signs at various fixtures at the stadium.

Essex Police teamed up with Essex Search and Rescue to scour the Basildon area and searched Gloucester Park and roads nearby including Roundacre near the railway line with Network Rail staff.

As concern for his welfare continued to grow, about 30 volunteers gathered in the Gloucester Park area to help search for any possible traces on December 28.

The park was searched, leaflets were made and distributed all around Basildon, and Jack’s friends created a fundraising page to help with the costs of the search.

Within a couple of days, they had raised more than £4,000.

Following numerous searches and appeals, attention was focused on the fishing lake in Gloucester Park.

On January 2, after Jack had been missing for 11 days, the authorities began draining the fishing lake.

The day after, January 3, a body was discovered, and the search was suspended.

A post mortem examination, carried out on January 4, established that he died from drowning.

Tributes were left at the lake for Jack, including messages, pictures of him, flowers and candles.

On January 5, during a West Ham game against Birmingham at the London Stadium, the crowd rose from their seats in the 28th minute of the game in honour of the lost fan.

Birmingham fans also joined in standing and applauding for Jack.

After his body was identified, Jack’s family thanked everyone for their support.