PAUL Hardcastle has shared his son died in a motorcycle crash after missing his flight and trying to collect his saxophone.
The son of 80s pop legend Paul Hardcastle, Paul Hardcastle junior, died on Monday after a crash on the A414 near Bobbingworth, Epping Forest while he was being pursued by an unmarked police car.
Jazz musician Paul Hardcastle posted a tribute to his son on social media which read: “Just to let you know that my super talented son Paul Hardcastle Jnr was in a fatal motorcycle accident earlier and had sadly died.
“RIP son love Dad.”
Paul Jr, 35, began a career as a professional saxophonist when he was 16 and secured a residency at an Ibiza nightclub just two years later.
His debut single Touch and Go, released in 2010 and produced by his father, reached number one on the Billboard Jazz songs chart in the US.
On Saturday, Paul shared a video to Instagram to clarify the circumstances of his son’s death.
He said: “This didn’t need to happen, but it did. This is life.
“Before someone starts saying, ‘He was trying to get away after doing a diamond heist’ or something […] I’ll tell you exactly what I know, because I spoke to him about half an hour before this happened.”
Paul revealed his son had missed his flight to Greece, where he had several days of work gigs booked.
His car was taken to a car pound two nights before due to a puncture, but Paul Jr was not allowed to retrieve his saxophone from the vehicle.
“If they’d let him have his sax back, this wouldn’t have happened,” Paul Sr said.
Paul Jr came home and told his dad he needed his saxophone, who said he’d better get to his house as quick as he could or meet him halfway to get another saxophone.
“He said, ‘I’ll get back to you in five minutes’. He didn’t get back to me in five minutes,” Paul Sr said.
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Paul Jr chose to ride his ‘Scrambler’ motorbike over fields to his dad’s house as he believed it would be twice as fast as a taxi, but it shouldn’t have been on the road.
Paul Sr said an unmarked police car saw his son on the road and pursued him, but he didn’t stop as he was in a rush to get his saxophone.
It was at this point Paul Jr sadly hit a van.
“People were round him trying to help him, but they just said his breathing was very shallow. I don’t know exactly when he passed away, but he did,” Paul Sr said.
“So that’s basically what happened. It was all to do with the fact of him missing a flight, trying to get his sax – and he should’ve just got an Uber, or whatever.
“That’s all I want people to know, before it starts getting into really the silly realms of The Italian Job or something. It wasn’t, it was just over a saxophone.
“I’ve lost a lovely son, and he’s lost his life. And it could’ve easily all been avoided.”
Paul Sr thanked everyone for their thousands of messages and support and paid tribute to his son.
