My remarks will be in three sections, and then I have two questions and three requests to put to the Minister. First, I want to talk about the young man for whom I speak this evening—Tyrell Matthews-Burton, sadly no longer with us. Secondly, I want to talk about the inconsistent nature of the assistance that has been provided to his family since his tragic murder. Thirdly, I want to talk about the existing protocol for supporting families who have lost loved ones abroad in such instances as this case. My hon. Friend Heidi Alexander also wishes to speak, and I want to ensure that the Minister has ample time to respond to the concerns that we are raising.

On 23 July last year, Tyrell’s 19th birthday and the last night of his first holiday abroad without his mum, while out with his friends celebrating not just his birthday but their chance to go university, he was brutally killed while trying to stop a fight in a bar in Malia. I do not know who killed Tyrell, and I am not here to prosecute the case against those who stand accused; I am here to ask how we ensure that every British family who has a loved one killed or go missing abroad knows that their country will stand by them. This is every parent’s nightmare.

Tyrell was a young man in his prime, with a passion for fashion, which he hoped to make a career of, and popular with friends and family and, indeed, young ladies. He was cut down before he had the chance to show the world what he was capable of. Then he was disgracefully slandered in the press by Greek officials as a member of a gang. I have written to Greek officials asking for an apology for this, but I am sad to say that, six months on, it is yet to appear. Since Tyrell’s death, the distress caused to his family by the Greek authorities has been continuous, from the dismissive actions of the Greek coroner to the casual return of the clothes that Tyrell was wearing the night he was killed in the post and the continued total lack of communication with and respect shown to a grieving family. But I am not here tonight to call to account the Greek authorities as to why they seem to care so little for this young man’s life. I am here to ask: what is the appropriate role of the British authorities in such matters?

I am sure the Minister has been briefed on the family’s concerns—from being told consistently by the consulate that it could not find out anything about the investigation and simply to find a lawyer, to then being given the details of lawyers who represented the person accused of Tyrell’s killing and being subjected to a tirade as to their innocence. The consulate staff knew themselves that the clothes, with possible DNA evidence, were being returned to the family, but they did not question this and simply telephoned ahead to ensure that the family would be in when the courier arrived. Tyrell’s mother was told that if she wanted someone to explain the difference between a UK and a Greek pathologist report, she should go to her own GP for help.

But I have not asked for this debate to talk about lessons learned in sensitivity; I have done so primarily because I believe that without Intervention there is a risk that the human rights of the victim’s family are being infringed. The Minister will know that we have been repeatedly told that formal requests for information have been rebuffed by the Greek authorities. Our consulate tells me that it cannot even find out matters such as a possible date for the trial or the charges laid, even though it claims to have registered an interest in the case.

The Minister will also know that, for Tyrell’s hard-working, single mother, the cost of legal advice is prohibitively expensive. Therefore, the only information the family have had about the case has been through press reports of the claims of the family of the accused.

I draw the Minister’s attention to the obligations under European Union law that all member states must ensure protection for the rights of crime victims, which international law defines as including the families of murder victims. The EU framework has been fully in force since 2006. It requires that victims and their families are kept involved and informed throughout criminal investigations and criminal trials, including the provision of detailed information in a form and language that they can understand, and for free when they cannot afford to pay. There are also requirements of co-operation between member states, so the UK must ensure that the family’s rights are upheld by Greece. My first question, therefore, is: does the Minister believe that the conduct of the UK Government on this matter to date is in accordance with those legal requirements?

The Prime Minister kindly agreed to meet Tyrell’s mother in September to try to help matters, but I am afraid to say that it was not the breakthrough for which we had all hoped. I know that the Foreign Office itself is disappointed with the advice it has given. It admits that the former team at the Ministry of Justice that managed such matters has been disbanded, so there is no institutional memory as to how we should address such cases. Regretfully, we are now told—contrary to the Prime Minister’s own personal suggestion—that Tyrell’s mother is not eligible for legal aid as a family member of a victim of crime. Nor would she be eligible under the Greek system; even if she was, there would be no guarantee that the person would speak English.

The family were then told that there is no public funding for representation, and so the official advice from Foreign Office officials was that the family should approach Tyrell’s former employer—he had a Saturday job at Next—or the mother’s current employer, a housing association, to ask them to fund legal advice. When I queried this, the officials simply told me this was standard practice, so my second question to the Minister is: will he confirm whether that standard practice is in accordance with the EU framework that the UK has ratified?

Thankfully, in the past few weeks some progress has started to be made. Money has now been made forthcoming from Victim Support. This limited funding, granted in December, will cover an initial instruction for a Greek lawyer, yet this £1,800 is the sum total of support we have given as a nation to this grieving mother in a case where the costs could reach €20,000.

I am also still waiting for a response from the Foreign Office following its commitment to ask the ambassador to raise this matter with the Greek authorities; to secure a meeting for the family and myself with the Greek authority representatives here; to ask the police lead for an update; and to speak to the judge in Greece about meeting the family. Those promises were made at the start of December.

Sadly, this is not an unusual case. My final points refer to the protocol that is supposed to define the treatment of families in such matters. There is a memorandum of understanding on what should happen in dreadful cases of a British national being murdered abroad. It was formalised between the Foreign Office, the Association of Chief Police Officers and the coroners of England and Wales in 2011. It specifically decrees that where a matter involves both a British national as a victim and a British national as a suspect, the UK police can appoint a senior investigating officer. Indeed, under section 9 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, the suspect can be prosecuted in England and Wales.

Despite the fact that this case meets that test, there has been no involvement in the investigation of this matter or movement on it by the police in relation to bringing the case to the UK for trial, even though the Prime Minister agreed to raise it with the Met. An SIO was finally appointed when the Prime Minister intervened, but nothing more has happened. The police have said that, as the Greek police have refused their help, there is nothing they can do. That stands in contrast to other well-known cases, such as that of Madeleine McCann, where the Prime Minister’s intervention has rightly been crucial to making progress.

Of concern to me is the failure of the police to act when the defendant conducted a public interview with the British press that was broadcast in the UK. I alerted the Met before the broadcast of the film and asked them to ensure that it would not affect the possibility of a trial here. I am afraid that that did not happen. The Foreign Office has told me, with circular logic, that

“because we don’t know the quality of the Greek investigation they have decided they cannot tell whether it would be appropriate to ask the MET to get involved”.

We therefore cannot know whether the investigation is proceeding appropriately. Our authorities are not following their own protocol. What confidence can we have that justice will be done?

In addition to my requests about clarification of the EU legal framework, I have three requests for the Minister. First, I ask him to request the Greek authorities to meet me and Tyrell’s family directly to update them on the status of the investigation and the time scale for the trial. That this has not happened yet—and, indeed, that no offer to arrange it has been made, except because of my request—is I am sure something on which the Minister will wish to reflect: it should not take a cross MP for our representatives to want such authorities to speak to a victim’s family.

Secondly, will the Minister confirm that the Foreign Office will ensure that Victim Support has the funds to be able to provide full financial assistance to ensure Ms Matthews has legal representation in the trial, or will he and the British Government request, as per the memorandum of understanding, that the matter is now brought back to UK authorities for trial and investigation by the UK police?

Finally, I urge the Government to review their protocol for the management of such cases. We cannot have a fair and just system if only those families who can secure a media presence receive the intervention they need when something terrible happens to a family member overseas. Baroness Browning confirmed that the Home Secretary and Prime Minister intervened in the case of Madeleine McCann because they believed her to be alive, and their intervention included a commitment to ensure that the police had what she termed the “necessary funding”.

Tyrell may no longer be with us, but his right to justice lives on, as do the rights of his family and those of other murdered British citizens. It cannot be beyond the realm of possibility for our Government to have a clearer and fairer protocol for the provision of appropriate support and intervention, subject to differences in countries’ legal systems, to ensure that families have the representation and assistance that they need. If this involved any of our families, we would wish for such certainty of assistance, as does Ms Matthews, who faced her first Christmas without her son this year and who continues to grieve, still not knowing whether she will be able to see justice done for Tyrell or even hear when it will occur.