Gogglebox star George Gilbey will have his ashes scattered somewhere dear to his mother’s heart, she has revealed.
Electrician George, 40, died on March 27 this year after falling 80ft through a skylight while working on the roof of a warehouse in Shoeburyness, Essex.
An inquest heard he suffered traumatic head and torso injuries after falling through the plastic aperture of the building used by EGL Homecare.
He had been working as an installer via his own firm, WindG Ltd based in Clacton-on-Sea, after he and his family left Gogglebox in 2014.
The family – George, mother Linda McGarry and stepfather Pete McGarry – had been beloved to millions on the Channel 4 series, which sees ordinary Brits watch and comment on the week’s best TV.
However, the family was forced to quit when he entered the Celebrity Big Brother house on Channel 5. Producers felt that he would no longer be considered a ‘normal’ member of the public with his newfound fame.
But they returned to the show two years later, with George later leaving again in 2018 after he was convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend and mother of his daughter, Gemma Conway. Linda and Pete remained until 2020.
George was cremated in late April after £7,000 was raised on GoFundMe to cover the unexpected costs of his send-off.
George Gilbey died in March after falling through a skylight while working on the roof of a warehouse in Essex
Emergency services were called to EGL Homecare in Shoeburyness on March 27 but he had sustained traumatic head and torso injuries and could not be saved
George, alongside mother Linda McGarry and stepdad Pete McGarry, was beloved to millions on the Channel 4 series Gogglebox
Linda says she has finally decided where she wants to scatter his ashes almost nine months on from the tragedy.
Alongside George’s former partner Gemma Conway, she took her son’s daughter Amelie, eight, on holiday to Lanzarote earlier this year.
She has now revealed she plans to go back next year with the youngster – and appears to have suggested George’s ashes will be scattered in the same place as her husband’s.
Linda, 74, told OK! Magazine: ‘I took them on a week’s holiday in Lanzarote this summer and it was perfect for Amelie. We went a whole week without crying in front of her. I promised her that it’s going to be our special place. It was absolutely wonderful.
‘We’re going to put his ashes on the beach, with my Pete and with his dad.’
Pete died in June 2021 from bowel cancer – days after being told by medics he might have six months to live.
She told the Sun at the time: ‘When they told Pete he only had six months, I said to him, “We have done things that nobody else would ever do in a lifetime.”
‘We’ve been to marvellous places. He was so proud of George when he was on Big Brother too.’
OK! says Linda still keeps a ‘George corner’ at her home in Essex, where his ashes currently sit.
The former reality star says she also suffered a stroke three months ago as she grieved her son, and is also living with Parkinson’s disease.
George with his daughter Amelie. Linda says she is very close with the eight-year-old, and her mother Gemma Conway
George Gilbey pictured with Gemma. The pair split up in 2018; Gilbey was convicted of assaulting her the same year
Linda McGarry, George Gilbey and Pete McGarry pictured in 2015 at Leyton Orient stadium
Linda Mcgarry pictured with Amelie. She says the young girl made a heartbreaking Christmas wish to get her father back
But she maintains a strong relationship with George’s ex, Gemma Conway – of whom she maintains the electrician had been very fond.
Linda, who was formerly a pub landlady and a lifelong foster parent to some 140 children, said Amelie had made a heartrending Christmas wish as she prepares for her first Christmas without her father.
She recalled: ‘She’s done her Christmas list and it will break your heart. It says, ‘You can forget all of that if you bring my daddy back.”
And of her son, she added: ‘I can actually watch Gogglebox and see him – it makes me laugh – when I’m in a good place. I don’t like people talking about him when I’m at a party – I do all my crying on my own.’
Despite the efforts of emergency services, George died at the scene after falling to his death at the industrial park in Shoeburyness.
Two men aged 47 and 36 have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter and remain under investigation by Essex Police.
The inquest at Chelmsford was suspended pending the ongoing criminal investigation.
