A Borders mother wants Foreign Secretary William Hague to reveal what she claims are as yet undisclosed details about her son’s death.
The body of Julie Sheppard’s son, Andrew Watt, 31, was discovered in a country lane close to where he was staying, 140 miles from Paris, in September 2010.
The French authorities concluded that Andrew’s death was caused by his ill-health, although Mrs Sheppard, who lives near Ettrickbridge, believes the large amount of medication prescribed in France to her son, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, contributed to his death.
But despite numerous requests through personal and diplomatic channels, including the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Mrs Sheppard says she has never been permitted to view the evidence which was presented to a French judicial inquiry, held in private in December 2011.
After his death, it took three months for Andrew’s body to be returned and when it was, his family was horrified to find that organs were missing. Three months later, the missing body parts turned up in a research hospital.
And at one stage, the Shepherd family even went so far as to enlist the help of the then French president Nicolas Sarkozy, in an effort to uncover the truth.
Mrs Sheppardd says that more than two and a half years after her son died overseas, she and her family still do not know what information is being withheld.
In an attempt to find out what the authorities know, Mrs Sheppardd has started a petition on the online site, Campaigns by You, calling for greater transparency of information when it comes to the deaths of British citizens overseas.
The Sheppard family is going through its third family appeals process to find out what happened to Andrew.
Mrs Sheppardd claims the FCO has refused to release the full information about her son’s death while he lived in France on the grounds that it could harm relations between France and the UK.
She is calling on Mr Hague to tell her why her son’s death warrants this secrecy in an effort to stop other parents going through the same ordeal.
“William Hague has the authority to release the information that is being withheld from us by the FCO,” she told The Southern.
“This should be an absolute right for all families in our position.”