Former footballer found dead in New Amsterdam house

The body of 61-year-old Richard Lennox Blair, called ‘Finnie’ and ‘Pipe Man’, was on Sunday morning discovered in an advanced state of decomposition lying at the bottom of an inner stairway at his Lot 14 Tucber Park home in New Amsterdam Berbice, where he had lived alone since the demise of his mother more than a decade ago.
The former footballer had last been seen alive on Thursday, in the company of friends at a liquor bar.
Neighbours, having not seen Blair for some time, and detecting a stench emanating from the two-storey building in which he lived, alerted his daughter, Gail, and the Police.
According to his daughter, when the door was broken open, Blair’s body was seen at the bottom of the stairway lying on his back. His feet were resting on the stairway and his head was bracing against the wall. She said it appeared as though he was on his way to the upper flat and may have fallen and hit his head against the wall, and was thereafter unable to move. She also surmised that Blair might have had a heart attack and fell to the bottom of the stairs.
Some residents who viewed the body suggested that Bair might have been intoxicated and fell as he was climbing the stairs.
In the prime of his youth, Blair was popular around football fields, but in his latter days he frequented liquor restaurants. This publication was told that Blair had fathered eight children. He also leaves to mourn one brother.
His body is awaiting a Post-Mortem examination which is expected to be performed today. The Police are investigating the circumstances attending his demise.