'It's difficult all the time. It's like half your life is missing'

Just hours later, however, on Boxing Day, he fell victim to one of the worst natural disasters in history – when one of the worst tsunamis on record battered coastlines around the Indian Ocean, killing as many as 250,000 people and wreaking devastation on an unimaginable scale.

The couple, who were in a beachfront bungalow, heard screams and Rob saw the wave coming and shouted "Get down" seconds before it hit.

Junko was carried away underwater but surfaced after hitting a wall and was pulled to safety. She was found two days later in a hospital with serious leg and hand injuries.

Rob drowned and, although his body was recovered, his family endured an agonising eight-month wait for him to be identified through DNA, finally allowing his remains to be flown home for a funeral.

He was 34 and talented, a much-loved son, brother, uncle and friend who had travelled the world and immersed himself in foreign culture, but always carried with him, along with his football boots, the easy-going charm of the Wolds village where he grew up.

A headstone made from Lake District slate marks his grave in the small churchyard at Fridaythorpe, a short walk from his parents' home. The beautifully carved stone tells of the life he led and the promise cut tragically short.

There are words of affection written in Japanese and a carving of Mount Fuji, which Rob had climbed with Junko and once with a colleague. There is also a line of his poetry, a testament to his creative side and sensitive nature: "Sweet summer day, singing a song of blue and yellow, lifting lightly, gently my soft soul from sleep."

Six years on and the pain of his loss is still raw. Rob's mother Gill said: "It's hard all the time. There's just a big gap, it's like half your life is missing."

His father Tom recalls the awful moment when he realised Rob was not coming back as they waited desperately for news in the aftermath of the tsunami.

"We had two or three sleepless nights and I just said to the family, knowing Rob, that if he was OK he would have found a way of contacting us, he had enough about him to be able to do that, it was time to consider the worst, to prepare for the worst," he said.

Along with many of Rob's closest friends they attended a memorial service for British victims at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

They were impressed by Prince Charles when he invited relatives to his family home at Highgrove House, Gloucestershire, in the late summer of 2005.

Mr Bell said: "There was no publicity, nobody knew about it apart from the people who went. He was there for three or four hours talking to people. He was doing it out of his concern."

Rob's brother James, 42, said he had lost his best friend and was saddened to think his sons William, eight, and Charlie, five, would never know their uncle.

He said: "It's like losing a soul-mate. We used to chat about anything and looked after each other; he was my best mate. If he thought I was having a pint too many he'd tell me, or he'd say 'You're putting a bit of weight on Jim'.

"It's frustrating and upsetting that my kids have lost the best uncle in the world. I probably think about it every day."

The impact of the tsunami is still being felt by others, who although not personally bereaved, were nonetheless touched by the scale of the tragedy.

Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Kerman, a former national police commander for disaster victim identification, led a 40-strong team from Humberside Police to the region as part of the multi-national effort to identify victims.

He still keeps the records of two young British boys who died who were a similar age to his own sons, and said the three-month posting had been one of the most traumatic periods of his career.

"At the time I went I had been a senior detective for eight or nine years and seen over 100 post-mortems; I wasn't easily shocked, and I suppose I thought I was beyond being shocked.

"But when I got there, to see so many bodies and the devastation, it's a thing that will stay with me forever. It was a really difficult few months.

"I would say I'm still proud to this day of the officers of Humberside Police for their efforts in this international operation, but I wouldn't want to go through it again."

He added: "On Boxing Day I've got the day off and I'll be with my family, but at some quiet time I'll go for a walk with my dog and my thoughts will go back to Phuket. Six years on Boxing Day is still quite a day for me and I'll be thinking about the people and the situation and what happened."

DAY THE ENTIRE PLANET VIBRATED

THE undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day, 2004, triggered the series of devastating tsunamis along the coastlines of most landmasses in the area.

The initial quake had a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3 and was the third largest on record.

It caused the entire planet to vibrate and triggered other quakes as far away as Alaska.

The tsunamis unleashed waves up to 100ft high that obliterated coastal communities, with Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand among the worst-hit areas.

The dead were from 140 countries and included many tourists, with the UK, Germany and Scandinavia among the worst affected.