Mother's campaign to help families touched by tragedy

Chief Scottish Political Correspondent

Thursday 6 September 2012

A CAMPAIGN group has been set up to help families whose loved ones have died abroad.

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Robbie Dinwoodie

Glasgow mother Julie Love lost her son Colin, 23, in a drowning tragedy while he was on holiday in the Caribbean in January 2009. She was shocked to discover that unlike in England, where coroners can hold an inquest into deaths overseas, in Scotland there is a bar on Fatal Accident Inquiries into such cases.

She petitioned Parliament for a change in the law and has now helped found a charity, Death Abroad – You're Not Alone, to campaign for a better deal for families and to act as a support group to those involved.SNP Glasgow MSP Bob Doris has taken up the issue and secured a pledge that reform of Fatal Accident Inquiries will remove the blanket ban on probes into deaths overseas.At a meeting with Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill today, he hopes to learn more about the timescale for this.Mr Doris said: "I know that having spoken to a number of affected families that this would help address many unanswered questions. Following the Cullen Review, the Scottish Government has accepted the need for legislative change and today's meeting is an opportunity to seek details on how plans are progressing."I will also be raising the issue of how families are supported back in Scotland, particularly when trying to deal with consulates and overseas authorities."He welcomed recent efforts, revealed in The Herald, by former Scottish Police Federation chairman Les Gray which led to Strathclyde Police appointing a liaison officer to help Coatbridge couple Ian and Antoinette Mallon, who lost their son Craig in Spain.Ms Love said: "On the back of my petition I met with many other families who have found themselves in this awful predicament, many of them through horrendous circumstances. "Only recently I took a call from the friend of a family who were expecting their son home on a flight only to find out he had died abroad. They couldn't make contact with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at the weekend and they were not aware there was an emergency number they could contact."Ms Love is chairing the new charity, which will also seek to help families facing hardship because of repatriation costs, court and legal fees, flights and translation of documents.

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Mother's campaign to help families touched by tragedy

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