The daughter of a man found dead at his home says she is still searching for answers.
RAF serviceman Ian Thyng was found dead at the bottom of his Tayport home’s staircase on April 5.
Ian — who was known as ‘Slapper’ from his days as a Royal Air Force F3 navigator — was just 51 when he died.
His 22-year-old daughter Sophie said her family is being kept “in limbo” after his death certificate only confirmed he had a medical condition that the family didn’t believe to be fatal.
She said: “We just want to know so that we can put it to bed and remember him for the man he was.
“We’re all shocked and completely heartbroken. His death certificate came back and said that he had fat degeneration of the liver.
“A search online will tell you that you can’t die from that alone — it must have been something, but they can’t seem to find out what it was.
“I think that would have been a contributing factor, but I want to know how he actually died.
“We are now waiting for the toxicology report to come back to know what happened.
“We are still waiting for answers and it isn’t good to be kept in limbo.”
Sophie, who was born in Dundee but now lives in Suffolk, today paid tribute to her father, saying he “didn’t care what anyone thought about him, he just lived how he wanted to live”.
She said: “My dad served 29 years in the RAF, which was really important to him.
“He got his nickname when he was doing his military training.
“If you did anything wrong you would get a slap on the back of the head from your bosses.
“He got quite a few and ended up with the nickname ‘Slapper’. He was originally from Luton but he lived in Tayport for 15 years and he totally loved the place.
“There are a lot of upset people in the area.
“After he left the air force he was a student at Dundee University.
“He had always said his only regret was that he hadn’t been to university, so as soon as he left the RAF he signed up to study for an environmental science degree.
“He loved the outdoors and he had a brilliant time when he went to Mexico with the university in August.”
Sophie moved down south when she was two, but Ian has visited her and her 24-year-old brother Harry throughout their lives.
She added: “It is a shame that we couldn’t see more of him because of the distance, but I know he loved me and my brother and was really proud of us.
“We didn’t see as much of him as we would have liked to but we thought the world of him all the same.
“It was hard being so far away from my dad and we would only see him three or four times a year.
“It was quite tough.”
Sophie said Ian remained active after leaving the RAF and took up mountain climbing, kayaking and loved to spend time outside in the open air.
She added: “That’s why he had chosen to study an environmental science degree when he applied for university.”
Ian’s funeral service will be held at Dundee Crematorium on Tuesday May 17 at 2.45pm.
All family and friends are invited to attend.
Those attending are asked not to bring flowers although donations can be made in lieu to the Scottish Wildlife Trust at the crematorium in homage to Ian’s love of the
natural world.