James was left alone in the back of the van, and still with his limbs in restraints. The drive to the police station was 40-45 minutes, with speeds of up to 50 or 60 mph at some points during the journey.



"There is no CCTV inside of the van, so James' demeanour on the journey to the station has always been something that's controversial," Tony said.

CCTV shows that James was unresponsive when police officers carried him out of the van at the station. Yet the IPCC report said that officers did not treat James like a seriously ill young man when he arrived. He was carried facedown on a blanket to a cell.

"They take him into a police cell, where the mattress had been removed, placed him onto the concrete floor, stripped him naked, shut the door," Tony said. He was left alone without receiving medical treatment.

Only later did a custody sergeant call for medical assistance, but the level of urgency was not made clear, so technicians were sent to the scene instead of paramedics. By the time paramedics did arrive, it was too late. James was rushed to Yeovil hospital and pronounced dead shortly afterwards, at 9:21pm. Whilst he had been receiving life support in the police cell, police contacted his mother and asked questions about James. But she was told nothing about his collapse, or his transfer to hospital. The next time the police contacted James’ parents, it was around 1:30am to notify them he had died.

On Friday, Heappey, the member of parliament for Wells, told the House of Commons that "systemic, institutionalised failings" and "misunderstanding of mental health" were involved in James' death. He said that the "Seni's Law" bill going through the House of Commons, which calls for greater accountability when force is used on people with mental illnesses, could have made a difference to what happened to him.



Adding to Tony's distress over losing his child was the fact that he and Barbara had to "jump through hoops" to get funding for legal representation for an inquest, which he said led to months of acute anxiety. He told BuzzFeed News they only learnt in 2011 – a year after James's death – that they would need their own lawyers, while the police would have separate representation.

"In 2011 my business had gone bust, and I was on the floor financially as well as on the floor emotionally because of my loss of James," Tony said. But because he had some assets left, the pair were initially told they didn't pass the means test to get legal aid.

"You can imagine, only 18 months after losing James we’re being told that the state won’t provide any funding, and its going to cost probably fifty or sixty thousand pounds.

"I haven’t got half of that – Barbara and I were going to go halves. I don’t own my own house at that stage. I do have a commercial property, but remortgaging it is not possible.

"I remember it was incredibly stressful on top of grief. My beloved only child died in the hands of the state and they’re not even going to let me have a proper lawyer to make sure we get justice. It’s outrageous."



With the help of their respective MPs, Caroline Spelman and Tessa Munt, the issue was brought up in parliament as a case in the public interest, and in December 2011 Tony finally received the call saying that their application to get funding was accepted. “I remember it very vividly… I nearly hit the roof with glee, that we got the money, that we weren’t going to have to struggle."

The inquest in 2013 determined James' cause of death as “cardio-respiratory arrest in a man intoxicated by synthetic cathinones, causing acute disturbance following restraint and struggle against restraint”.

After two investigations, the IPCC sent a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) which decided no criminal charges will be brought against officers or the police force in relation to the circumstances of James's death or the evidence given by officers at the inquest.

In September this year, the IPCC released its "Six Missed Chances" report, saying that a different policing approach could have prevented James's death. But it did not seek to pinpoint failings of officers or the police force.