A Portuguese family has just 24 hours to raise enough money to bring the body of their dead son home from Scotland.

Relatives of migrant worker Hugo Policarpo have been told they have till tomorrow to pay 4500 euros to fly his remains back to Portugal.

The 32-year-old was found dead in his Galashiels home earlier this month after family and friends had not heard from for some days.

Police have released his body but his family has not got the means to repatriate it for a funeral in his home town of Almeirim, north of Portugal.

They have until February 19 to pay or his remains will stay in Scotland.

Mr Policarpo's cases has sparked anger in Portugal, which has suffered a new wave of emigration since the financial crash. Many feel that such migrants are effectively abandoned by the Portuguese authorities."I have contacted the Foreign Ministers and gone from service to service until I was told it would be best if I got in contact with social security services in Scotland.

"Our authorities send young people to imigrate and then when situations like this arise they don't help."

Local news sources in Portugal said the results of a post-mortem for Mr Policarpo had been inconclusive. His family does not believe it was suicide, Mr Policarpo's brother in law, Jorge Carvalho, who lives in Jedburgh was reported as saying.

Mr Policarpo moved to Scotland after working for nine years in a factory in his home town/ He had been working in a hotel for a week after losing his job when the pizzeria where he worked closed, reports said.