The sister of a good samaritan, who died after dedicating his later life to the poor, has finally received closure on the mystery of her brother’s disappearance.

Linda Franklin, 67, from West Sussex, contacted this paper after reading about her brother Robert Denton who left his family in Sutton about seven years ago after a suspected mental breakdown.

Mr Denton, 55, walked almost the length of the south coast and spent six years living in a tent before settling in Devon after being helped by a homeless charity.

He became involved with Barnstaple Poverty Action Group (BPAG), eventually running the centre for three days a week until his death from a brain aneurism last December.

This month the charity asked the Croydon Guardian for help finding his relatives after his ashes were released by a council.

Mrs Franklin said: “I was devastated to read about him as I had searched for him.

“It was a worry wondering where he was and what he was doing and thinking every time an unidentified person was found it might have been Bobby.

“I wrote to newspapers, but he did not want to be found – it was hard to accept, but it was obvious he had a nervous breakdown.”

Mr Denton’s friend David Sykes, 37, from Sutton, said he knew Mr Denton after working with him for a time as a volunteer with Sutton Nature Conservation volunteers and the Oxfam shop in Wallington.

He said: “He was the most sociable and likeable person you could ever meet. He could talk to anyone about anything and really cared about what they had to say.

“I am some years younger than him and I treated him like a father figure. He gave me many pieces of valuable advice over the years and helped me in times of trouble.”

Mr Denton married his first wife, Susan Woolcotte, in Sutton in 1974, and his second wife, Yvonne Patman, in 1982, fathering Emma, Hannah and Paul over the next 15 years. His children’s births were registered in Sutton and Croydon.

The charity believed he had three brothers called Graham, Roger and Alan and a sister and used to work in WH Smith and Comet as a manager.

Volunteer Ann Lakeman, who worked with Mr Denton at BPAG, said Mr Denton’s death had been a huge blow to the charity.

She said: “He had an empathy with the clients because he had been there himself. Most of his time was taken up shopping for the centre, picking up and bringing it down here.”