Widow who ‘spotted dead husband in curry house promo’ hits back at son-in-law & insists it IS him in picture
A WIDOW who claims she saw her late husband in a new promo video for a curry house has insisted it’s him – despite the restaurant and her son-in-law ‘proving’ her wrong.
Lucy Watson is convinced her partner Harry Doherty, who died nine years ago, appears in the short clip shared by Spice Cottage in Westbourne, West Sussex, last week.
The eatery, which posted the footage on its Facebook page on January 16, said it was recorded the week before.
But Lucy thinks this is “impossible” and feels certain bosses are mistaken.
She said: “It’s definitely some kind of montage. The people at some of the tables change.
“There’s a woman in a checked dress who disappears halfway through the video.
“They must have just done a hash of old footage.
“It’s not the same thing all the way through, any idiot can see that.”
Lucy, from Emsworth, Hampshire, stumbled across the video and immediately recognised two men sitting at one of the tables as Harry and his son Alex.
In shock, she played the clip some 30 times before concluding it must be them as her late husband was a “distinctive man” with white hair and glasses, and he was wearing a familiar-looking blue sweatshirt.
“I knew it was him, it was just a gut reaction,” she said.
“The moment I saw it I knew it was Harry; he has the same build, same glasses and the way he sits is the same.
“I wasn’t upset by it, I just didn’t understand it.”
Lucy asked the Indian restaurant when the footage was from and was told it was shot on January 9.
But she’s confident this is wrong as Harry last went to Spice Cottage with Alex on New Year’s Eve in 2013.
Her son-in-law today confirmed that neither he nor his father appears and it has been a bizarre misunderstanding.
The 39-year-old, a former duathlon champion who competed for Great Britain, told MailOnline: “No way. It’s not my dad and it’s not me. She’s got it wrong.”
However, Lucy is standing her ground, adamant he’s the one who is wrong.
‘NO WAY’
She said: “I’m not claiming he’s still alive, I was there when he died in 2014.
“But I’m 99.5 per cent sure it’s him and Alex. There’s no way you’d get two doppelgangers like that.
“He looked very different in the months before he died, so it must have been filmed some time before that, possibly New Year’s Eve 2013.
“I’ve not been in contact with Harry’s son Alex since he died, but I can tell it’s him in the video as well.”
Lucy’s initial comment and the subsequent back-and-forth sent the internet into a frenzy with people joking about what might have happened.
One person said the curries must be so good at the restaurant that Harry came back to life for one, while another said: “He wasn’t dead. He was just in a korma.”
Harry would have been in fits of laughter about the whole thing.
Lucy Watson
Lucy said Harry, whom she thinks is tucking into a chicken korma in the alleged montage, would have found the saga hilarious.
“He would have been in fits of laughter about the whole thing,” she added.
Dad-of-three Harry died in April 2014 while waiting for a planned liver transplant in hospital.
Spice Cottage manager Bodrul Islam said the video was edited together to show off its new wooden tables and interior refurbishment.
He added: “This was completed in early January 2023 and the promotional video highlights these changes.
“All videos used in the video were recorded week commencing January 9, 2023.
“Before January 2023, all of our tables were covered by white and red cloths, henceforth it is evident this footage is recent.
“This is a very unusual situation and we hope this clarifies any confusion.”