Call for meeting with PM over Paul

2:30pm Tuesday 16th January 2007

Comments (0)   Have your say »

PAUL and Andrea Gallagher are demanding a meeting with Tony Blair to discuss the death of their son.

Four years after two-year-old Paul Gallagher's death, a joint police review into the fatality recommended the case should be reopened and manslaughter charges brought against the boat driver, James Bain.

But despite a warrant being issued for his arrest in November last year, nothing has happened.

After media coverage of the report the Gallaghers, of Repton Road, Orpington, were optimistic about a meeting with Foreign Office Minister Lord Triesman last week.

But they were "intensely frustrated" to hear the boat driver has still not been arrested.

Immediately after the meeting, the Gallaghers delivered a letter to 10 Downing Street asking to meet the Prime Minister.

Mr Gallagher said: "Nearly five years on and nothing concrete has happened. I want to see Mr Blair and ask him What would you do if it was your son?' "The worst thing about this is we don't know why he hasn't been arrested. Has he done a runner?

"Is he still driving a boat somewhere? No-one is telling us anything.

"Even Mr Triesman admitted the process can be frustratingly slow but I don't believe the police would find it difficult to find James Bain. It's a small island."

The review, conducted by the Met Police and the Royal Bahamas Police Force, also described the original investigation as "flawed"and "poorly resourced".

The boat driver, who did not have a captain's licence, was using an unlicensed and unregistered boat.

Blood samples revealed he had cannabis in his system - although these were not tested until four years after the accident in August 2002.

• Last year, more than 1,000 News Shopper readers joined our campaign to push for a full review into Paul's death.