Parents' anger at lack of investigation into death of son, 26, in Mexico

Before the first anniversary of George Van Day's death his father Michael told The Argus he is still determined to find out what happened when the 26-year-old flew to Mexico City hoping to get into the United States but was attacked and died from a stroke.

Last year the Brighton coroner found that he died "as a direct consequence of brain injury sustained during an assault".

Despite that, authorities on both sides of the US - Mexico border appear to have made little if any progress in trying to find out who his attackers were.

The Argus understands the Mexican prosecutor does not consider there to have been a homicide and is handing the case to the local equivalent of the attorney general, which does not investigate.

George, nephew of pop singer David Van Day, lived with his parents Michael and Denise Van Day in Stroudley Road, Brighton.

His father said: "It is coming up to the first anniversary of his death and it has been a very hard year.

"The investigation has been absolutely disgusting. We are determined to find out what happened."

His son had autism and had long been fascinated with America.

He boarded a plan to Mexico City in June last year, telling his parents he was going to Paris.

The former Blatchington Mill student was refused entry to the US on June 17 at the international bridge between Mexico and Texas.

But he returned later that day when it appeared to border guards that he had been injured.

He was taken to hospital in El Paso, Texas, and discharged within a few hours, before collapsing on the Mexican side of the bridge.

Brighton coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley found that he had died from a stroke due to an undetected tear to an artery caused by the attack.

Mexican journalist Lucy Carmen del Sosa spoke to Mexican prosecutor Enrique Villareal Macias's office about the case after being contacted by The Argus.

She said he was not investigating it as a homicide because the stroke meant it was considered a death due to natural causes and therefore there "was no crime".

The Foreign Office has been helping the family.

A spokesman said: “Our staff in Mexico and London continue to support the family of a British national who died in Mexico on June 27, 2015. We remain in regular contact with the Mexican authorities who are investigating the death.”

A YEAR ON FROM GEORGE’S DEATH, MYSTERY PREVAILS

NEARLY one year ago today Michael Van Day boarded a plane to Mexico to go to his son’s hospital bedside.

He and his wife had received a call at home to say that 26-year-old George was in a coma in the northern city of Juarez.

Their son had told them he was going to Paris, but in fact had travelled to central America with the hope of crossing the border to his fascination, the United States.

He died before his father’s plane touched down, and the distraught Mr Van Day found himself escorted by sympathetic Mexican officials to the mortuary in one of the world’s most violent cities.

Some six months later, Mr Van Day listened agitatedly in the tiny Brighton Coroner’s Court at Woodvale Crematorium as his son’s last steps were pieced together thousands of miles from where he died.

A police officer, Foreign Office representative, journalist and Mr Van Day heard at the inquest how George, who had autism, tried to cross the border from the US into Mexico on June 17 but was turned back.

When he tried again probably only a few hours later, border guards noticed he appeared injured and he was taken to hospital.

The youngster spent a few hours at the El Paso University Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, before being discharged in the middle of the night, probably back into the custody of border guards.

While walking back across the border he collapsed and he died ten days later in hospital in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua.

Based on medical expert evidence, George’s own comments before he died, and border guards’ testimony coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley concluded that he had been attacked, severing an artery leading to his brain.

Doctors at University Medical Centre in El Paso, Texas, recorded injuries to his face, collarbone and body and said he told doctors he had been kicked and punched by five people.

George was checked and treated at the hospital before being discharged at around 2am, which his father says was much too soon.

That tear on his artery grew, undetected by border guards and medics but it eventually triggered a fatal stroke as he walked across the bridge.

Although he would have liked her to go even further, Mr Van Day gained some hope from the coroner’s inescapable conclusion, written in capital letters on an official form: “George Van Day died as a direct consequence of brain injury sustained during an assault upon him, by a person or persons unknown, on June 17, 2015.”

At least, thought Mr Van Day, her conclusion meant there was no doubt that his son had been the victim of an awful crime. At least, this was something authorities could not ignore.

Yet nearly one year since his death, and very little appears to have been investigated, and the Chihuahua prosecutor has discounted homicide, according to a journalist in Mexico.

In 2012, Ciudad Juarez had 3,000 murders in a population of just over one million, making it the world’s murder capital as the city fell into the grip of drug cartel violence.

Today that number has fallen considerably, but Mexico’s drug wars, particularly in the northern border regions, rage on with a terrifying toll.

Among his parents’ fears are that George’s case may have been slowed by that tide or got stuck in the bureaucracy of the many international, federal and local agencies: medics on both sides of the border, US border guards, Texan officials, and Mexican officials.

Lucy del Carmen Sosa, a Mexican journalist who has spoken with the Chihuahua prosecutor’s office, said officials there do not accept there is evidence of injuries taking place on their side of the border.

And they say that when they asked for information from the US authorities, for example, about George’s statement to medical officials that he had been attacked, they were told this would only be given to UK authorities, because he was British.

The Argus obtained records from Customs and Border Protection, which we published earlier this year, showing how border guards turned him away at the bridge before he became injured.

We also tried to get records of a 911 call he is said to have made from hospital, but US authorities could find no record.

The UK Foreign Office has been trying to move things along, and a further meeting is due to take place this week between US and Mexican officials.

For Mr and Mrs Van Day, it has been a hugely upsetting and frustrating experience.

They meet regularly with the Foreign Office and write to officials, trying to get people to properly investigate the question to which they deserve an answer: who attacked their son?

“It will be a year today since Georgie went off,” said Mr Van Day, speaking on Monday. “It’s been very frustrating, the lack of information.

“We just feel very sad, the injustice of it all.”

CHATTY YOUNG MAN WHO LIKED POLITICS

GEORGE Van Day lived with his parents in Stroudley Road, Brighton, having grown up in Brighton and attended Blatchington Mill school.

He often kept his parents entertained at home with non-stop chatter, particularly about American politics, one of his great interests.

His mother, Denise, said last year: “He liked to talk about politics. He especially loved American politics. He hated Hillary Clinton but loved George Bush.

“He was very knowledgeable. You could ask him anything. He could tell you the answer if you wondered what was the capital of Malawi or who was the president in 1851.”

George, the nephew of Brighton pop star David Van Day, had autism that meant he sometimes struggled in social situations, but went to church regularly and enjoyed its social occasions as well.

He was 26 when he boarded a plane to Mexico so he could visit the US, trying to cross the border on June 17 last year.