Curry house at centre of internet storm after widow claimed promo video featured her late husband

The mystery about a ‘ghost dinner’ at an Indian restaurant that cooked up an internet storm has finally been solved, Mail Online reveals.

Retired IT manager Alan Harding has come forward to reveal that he is the person eating a chicken korma, and not the late husband of a local resident in a Hampshire village.

Lucy Watson had claimed that the white-haired man who sat at a table for two was her late husband Harry, who died nine years ago.

He was seen in a short promotional video for the Spice Cottage restaurant in the village of Westbourne, near Chichester, and his claim went viral despite the restaurant insisting the film was filmed earlier this month.

But now Mr Harding, 67, has admitted that he was the man in the video and that he was enjoying a meal with a friend who was visiting Essex.

Mr Harding told Mail Online: ‘I guess I’m the ghost. It’s amazing how many people around the world have read about this.

“I had no idea until a friend of mine called me to say he had read about the ghost restaurant and thought it looked like me.

“I saw the video and of course I recognized myself and my friend Kevin Parsons. It’s all pretty funny, but I’m definitely very much alive.

Harding, who lives in the town of Emsworth, said he visits Spice Cottage a half dozen times a year.

He was at the restaurant on January 16 when the owners filmed diners eating.

Mr. Harding and Mr. Parsons were sitting in the middle of the restaurant at a table for two. He said, ‘They make a really good curry and it’s our local go-to place.’

“I remember watching them film in the restaurant, but I didn’t think about it. I guess some people really wanted it to be a ghost, but sadly it wasn’t.

The restaurant revealed that Harding had called Monday night to say that he was the diner in the video.

The restaurant’s manager, Rofiqul Islam, posted a tongue-in-cheek message on his Facebook page along with a photo of a smiling Mr. Harding to end the mystery.

It said, ‘Hello everyone!

‘We have a ghee mattar that we would like to close.

‘The photo below is our customer who was captured in one of our recent promotional videos. We can confirm that he is not Lucy’s husband.

“As much as we wish our curry would get people off the kormas, unfortunately this was not the case.

‘Our video has spread to all corners of the world, and it’s been a pleasure to meet customers who have cumin this week!

“If you are ever in the village of Westbourne please visit us, there is never a dhall moment in our restaurant.”

In her original post, the widow, Mrs Watson, asked when the video was filmed because she was convinced it was her husband Harry, a former music journalist.

The restaurant’s Facebook page was inundated with comments from as far away as Tahiti and the Virgin Islands with theories as to who the diner was.

Soon after, the issue went viral. Some social media users compared it to the case of Canoe Man John Darwin, who faked his own death in 2002 in a life insurance scam.

Lucy had recounted how she was convinced she had seen her ‘instantly recognizable’ husband, who was an award-winning journalist and larger-than-life popular local character.

She said her husband, who died at 61 in 2014, was “a large, distinctive man” who had white hair and wore glasses.

She added: “I recognized the blue sweatshirt he was wearing and he’s sitting there with his son Alex.”

Lucy said that the couple occasionally had dinner at the Indian restaurant when Alex visited his father.

She believed that the restaurant had posted old images in an attempt to attract new customers.

Ms Watson’s son, Alex, 39, denied it was his father in the video in the hope of debunking the mystery.

But Alex, a former duathlon world champion who competed for Great Britain, insisted that Lucy had simply been wrong.

He said: ‘It’s not him and it’s not me. When I opened my laptop it’s completely obvious. Anyone who knew my father would know immediately.

“The guy in the video looks bald to begin with. He has hair on the side but is bald on top. The boy in front of him is older than me.

Sorry about the restaurant. They have done nothing wrong and all this is happening.

Alex, who now lives in Worcestershire, said he had not been in contact with Lucy in recent years. And he added: “I don’t know what she’s thinking.”

Harry’s daughter, Kiera Doherty, 40, also told MailOnline: “The person in that photo is not 100 per cent Harry Doherty.”

‘The person in front of him is definitely not my brother either. In fact, it’s very, very clear, none of them.

Doherty, who was born in Northern Ireland, won acclaim for his coverage of The Troubles before moving to England, where he relaunched his career as a music journalist working for the now-defunct Melody Maker magazine.

Among the bands and artists he championed as they tried to break into the big time were Thin Lizzy, Kate Bush, 10CC, and The Boomtown Rats.

He then founded his own rock magazine and befriended Queen guitarist Brian May after writing an official book about the band.

May sent floral tributes to the rock writer’s funeral after his death in April 2014.