A UNIQUE project set up to remember two brothers has spread around the world.

Young musicians Torin and Jacques Lakeman from the Isle of Man died in a Bolton pub after visiting the North West to watch a Manchester United football game.

Now the Jactor Project — which involves people leaving small plastic figurines hidden in places around the world — has reached 60 countries.

The boys' father Ray Lakeman, says he has been overwhelmed with the support the project has received with figurines now planted in at least 60 countries with others promising to spread the project into other lands in the near future.

Mr Lakeman said: "The whole idea of the Jactor Project is that the boys can't go anywhere anymore but other people can and they can go to places the boys could have gone and visited and done things.

"People have responded to it when I've explained what's happening and the figures are now out there in 60 different countries. One person took one to Brazil, someone took one to Hawaii, we've got one of the Great Wall of China, in Vancouver and New Zealand, it's quite extraordinary how many places this has spread to."

The figurines are placed anywhere in the world that 20-year-old Jacques and Torin, aged 19, could hear or play live music or see the stars.

An inquest held in Bolton heard the brothers died after buying drugs on the "dark web".

They were found at The Grapes pub in Stoneclough on December 1 last year.

It is now close to a year since the boys died — and Mr Lakeman and his wife Sarah are planning more activities to honour their memories.

He added: "We're not going to commemorate the day [they died] but we'll be commemorating things next year. I'm going to be running the Manchester marathon in memory of the boys on April 10, which is about the same time of year they had the inquest.

"I'm also going to be doing the Hadrian Wall walk in May, which coincides with what would be Torin's birthday. The boys aren't just going to disappear into the distance. We've had a difficult year and it's really important that we don't forget the boys and what happened to them."