Dad seeks new police probe into son's death

THE father of a Polish engineer who was found dead in an Edinburgh alleyway has demanded police re-open the investigation into his death.

The body of Zdzislaw Ksieniewicz, 53, was discovered in the Cowgate in May last year, with police putting his death down to alcoholism.

But his dad is convinced the case is more sinister and accused authorities of treating his son like a "tramp and a drunkard".

He said qualified engineer Zdzislaw was a respectable member of society who had worked around the world and never drank to excess.

His son's moneyless wallet was found lying a short distance from his body, a fact he says points to suspicious circumstances.

This has been backed up by Zdzislaw's US-based brother Tadeusz, who flew over to identify the body, who said his head appeared battered and bruised.

It is unclear how long Mr Ksieniewicz had been in Edinburgh, but there was a record of him living at a backpackers hostel on Blackfriars until a few days before his death.

Now his family want to know what happened to him in those days to result in his death.

His father Albin, a retired engineer who lives in Polish city Krakow, told the Evening News: "The reasons for my son's sudden death given by the physician do not convince me since the medical certificate obtained earlier never revealed any grave condition or disease, just to the contrary – always in good health, allowing him to work at high altitudes.

"It is not logical that a man of good health went to die in the street in terrible sufferings instead of going to a doctor.

"The police treated my son as a Polish tramp and drunkard, (when in fact] he was an engineer and a specialist who among other things had been rebuilding industry in Kuwait and Canada, where he had a second citizenship.

"Having so many doubts, I cannot accept that this was a natural sudden death in the street without criminal (involvement].

"I am therefore requesting that police perform a detailed and accurate inquiry to explain all the doubts."

In a letter to the Ksieniewicz family, police constable Alan Wren explained that on May 2, when the body was discovered, a wallet containing several cards but no cash was found "some distance" from the body.

And a subsequent letter from the procurator fiscal stated Mr Ksieniewicz died of gastric and intestinal haemorrhage, massive gastritis and chronic alcoholism, and that "there are no circumstances which would render necessary any further examination".

A post mortem carried out days after his death also revealed a smell of alcohol from the body.

The examiner concluded: "The development of such a massive gastritis is not uncommon in cases of chronic alcoholism."

There was no mention of bruises on the body in the report.

A Lothian and Borders Police spokeswoman said: "The circumstances surrounding Mr Ksieniewicz's death were extensively investigated and nothing suspicious was found.

"A sudden death report was sent to the procurator fiscal."