THE father of a York camper whose remains were found in a tent four years after he went missing fears his son’s death will always remain a mystery.

Duncan Bell said he had once waited every day for the knock on the door, as police searched for his missing son, Victor, but said he had accepted two years ago that something untoward had happened.

Victor, 39, of Acomb, vanished in March 2008, after telling his family he was going camping, and his disappearance remained a mystery until last month when a walker found his remains in woodland near Crianlarich, close to Loch Lomond, in Scotland.

Forensic tests, together with a library card, identified the remains as Victor’s. His father, Duncan, said his son’s love of camping meant his family would sometimes not hear from him for months, but they never expected to wait four years.

Mr Bell said his son was very self-sufficient.

“He just loved walking – he was content with his own company, really, and was happy getting away on his own.”

The family had raised the alarm in 2008 after not hearing from Victor for two months. Mr Bell said that when a police officer from York visited his Tennent Road home after the remains were found on May 5, he took the news with “quiet resignation and acceptance”.

He said despite the news bringing some closure for him and his family, he could not help wondering if there was some way he could have prevented the tragedy.

“There was a time that every day we would wait for that knock on the door,” said Mr Bell.

“However, at one point we did accept it that we would probably never see him again. For the last couple of years, I had come to believe that something untoward had happened.”

Mr Bell said that because of the length of time his son had lain dead and undiscovered, his remains were skeletal and a post- mortem could not be carried out to provide a cause of death.

Police are not treating the death as suspicious and a report has been submitted to the procurator fiscal in Scotland.

Although Mr Bell believes Victor died from exposure to cold while asleep in his tent, he accepted he would probably never know precisely what happened.

Family and friends gathered yesterday afternoon for an intimate funeral service at York Crematorium. Victor is survived by his father, stepmother Linda, brothers Greg, 39, and Stuart, 31 and his sisters Zalda Bell, 29, and Mischa Bigham, 26. He also leaves three god children; Mia, Jack and Cameron.

As heavy rain fell outside, mourners were told “even the heavens are crying for him today”.

Mourners laughed and cried as childhood memories were relived and a selection of Victor’s favourite songs were played, including A Little Respect by Erasure and Bon Jovi’s It’s My Life.

Victor was born at Naburn Hospital in Fulford and was one of five children born to Mr Bell and his former wife Rosemary.

He attended Carr Infant School and Archbishop Holgate’s School, where he became involved in theatre clubs.

Mr Bell said his son’s first passion was art, but he then became “fixated” with computers, going on to create his own games and programs and working in computing.

“Once he discovered computers and computer programming and the virtual world, he never picked up a paintbrush again,” Mr Bell said. Victor’s other interests included music, and he joined a band for which he wrote and produced music in the 1980s.

“If he turned his hand to do something he would do it exceptionally well – he really was very clever.”