Parents criticise Minister over meeting on son's mystery holiday island death

Gary and Christine Aveyard had arranged to meet with Europe Minister Chris Bryant to talk about unresolved issues regarding the death of 30-year-old son Mark, who died in August of last year.

But the distraught couple were staggered when the MP for Rhondda arrived 15 minutes late before hurriedly informing them that he had another meeting in 20 minutes time.

Heartbroken Gary and Christine, from Leeds, have been demanding answers to unanswered questions since collecting the body of tragic Mark, who they were told had died of acute respiratory renal failure on August 6 2009.

When Mr Aveyard went to see his son he noticed he had extensive facial injuries, including a suspected broken nose and a black eye. Since then the couple have fought a losing battle to obtain a copy of police and medical reports from the Spanish authorities to discover exactly what happened.

They enlisted the help of their MP Greg Mulholland, who arranged the meeting with Mr Bryant at the Foreign Office.

After making the four-and-half-hour coach journey from Leeds to London, however, they said the Minister turned up between 10 and 15 minutes late.

They claim he then told them that he had another meeting in 20 minutes time, although he did then eventually stay for longer than the half-hour originally allotted for the meeting.

Mr Aveyard said: "The first thing that came out of his mouth was, 'I'm sorry I'm running late but I am afraid I have got another meeting and I can only give you 20 minutes'.

"It put a dampener on us straight away. I know he is a busy fellow but he could have a bit more compassion."

Three Foreign Office officials stayed after Mr Bryant left and agreed to help track down the police and post-mortem reports.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "The Aveyard family have lost a son in tragic circumstances. They are very angry and upset, understandably."