Losing a child is every parent’s worst nightmare but to have a son die from a disease that could have been avoided can only make things worse.

Peter Buckland’s son died from the human form of mad cow disease after he was given an infected blood transfusion.

Mr Buckland’s grief was mixed with a blazing anger at how Westminster handled the mad cow disease crisis and he believes his son’s death, along with others, was unnecessary.

He has now channelled that anger into a book which has been published this week.

It will not bring his son back, but hopefully it will serve as both cathartic for him and act as a warning to those in authority.

The numbers may be small, but variant CJD has not gone away and its impact is continuing to be felt.