Richey Edwards Officially Dead

Former Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards may have been missing for nearly 14 years, but he has only just been "presumed dead."

Edwards had been missing since Feb. 1, 1995. While his car was discovered near the Severn Bridge — a site known for suicide attempts — his body has never been found. Under British law, a person can be declared legally dead after they've been missing for seven years. A document issued by the Probate Registry Of Wales now lists Edwards' date of death "on or since" Feb. 1, 1995.

Edwards' parents, Graham and Sherry Edwards, didn't want to declare him dead when they were entitled to it in 2002 because they had hoped their son had faked his own death. But according to Manic Street Preachers spokesperson Terri Hall, Edwards' family went to court to change his legal status, which was finalized on Sunday.

"The band has been aware this was coming," Hall told The Mail On Sunday newspaper. "It is hugely emotional for all of us.

"This is the parents' choice and the band is happy to go with what the parents decide is best. We all dream Richey will come back one day. You hope he is still around somewhere.

"But it is no longer a realistic hope and if this offers some kind of closure, then the band will be content with that."

David Ellis, the Edwards family's lawyer, told The Mail On Sunday that the status is more of "an acceptance that his affairs have got to be sorted."

"That's not the same as an acceptance that he is dead," he said.

Edwards' parents now have control of his estate, which is worth about 456,000 British pounds (about $862,000 Canadian). That will be reduced to about 377,600 British pounds (about $714,000 Canadian) after death duties.

Edwards went missing on the day he and Manic Street Preachers frontman James Dean Bradley were supposed to head to North America for a tour. Two weeks before he went missing, Edwards withdrew 200 British pounds from his bank account, checked out of his hotel and drove home to Wales.

Edwards' car was later discovered near the bridge, but he was nowhere to be found. Combined with his history of depression and self-harm, this led many people to assume he had committed suicide by jumping off the bridge. Despite this, several people claim to have "spotted" him at a market in Goa, India and in the Canary Islands. His parents flew to those locations to investigate the sightings.

Edwards became notorious in 1991 when NME journalist Steve Lamacq questioned his integrity and Edwards took out a razor blade and used it to carve "4 REAL" into his arm. He was hospitalized for the injury, which required 17 stitches.

Manic Street Preachers are recording a new album with the tentative titles of Journal For Plague Lovers or I Know I Believe In Nothing But It Is My Nothing with producer Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies). All of the lyrics on the LP were written by Edwards.