'I still can't believe Matthew's dead' - Mum
She hid her worries as she waved her 17-year-old off on his first lads' holiday abroad. On the first night of his long-awaited trip to Zante, Matthew Cryer had been killed.This is his mother's heart-breaking story...
"Mum, can I go on holiday with my mates this year?"
Joanne Froud's heart lurched.
Her son Matthew was only 17; she didn't want to let him go. But she knew she couldn't keep him tied to her apron strings.
"I had to say yes. He was so hopeful, so excited. I didn't want to crush him," says Joanne.
"I've always believed that if you want your kids to grow into independent people able to cope with what life throws at them, you have to give them their independence. And trust that you have given them the right set of values and common sense to get them through."
Delighted, Matthew Cryer began planning his first ever holiday without his family.
He, four friends and two of their fathers were off to Zante, the beautiful Greek island where Matthew, his sister Fran, mum and step-father Ian had enjoyed an idyllic holiday eight years before.
"He worked extra hours at his temporary job at Burger King to afford the trip. He was thrilled when he won their Employee of the Month award because they gave him Meadowhall vouchers," recalls the 42-year-old. "We went to the centre together to spend them on his holiday clothes."
Joanne can remember every single detail of the days leading up to Matthew's holiday last July.
She tells me how she ironed all his clothes, then carefully packed them for him - along with a bagful of medicines.
"I made sure he'd got sticking plasters, tablets for stomach upsets, paracetamol, anti-histamines... I tried to account for every eventuality," says the paliative care nurse.
"Matthew was laughing at me as I did it. But I wasn't going to be there to look after him if he got ill, was I?"
She waved him off with warnings ringing in his ears about the dangers of hiring a moped and why he should remember to wear his sun creams. She studied Teletext to check his plane had landed.
And she felt a wave of relief when Matthew rang home to say he was there safely and sitting by the pool.
But that very night, the absolute worst of his mother's fears became reality.
It was many hours later, though, before Joanne found out her precious son had died.
"A policewoman came to the door. She said: "Do you have a son called Matthew?" I knew from her face she had something terrible to tell me about Matthew. I screamed for my husband and I just prayed Matthew was only hurt.
"In the night, I'd received a couple of blank text messages from his phone and we had been trying to call him all day to check he was ok. When there was no reply from his phone, I told myself he was too busy having a good time to answer.
"But this policewoman was telling us he was dead. I couldn't accept it. I convinced myself it was a mistake. That it wasn't him.
"I still can't believe he's dead, even now, almost a year on. It just doesn't seem real. I have no wish for it to be real; it means I'll never see him again.
"I still want him to walk in the door, or be leaning out of his bedroom window the minute I pull the car into the drive, asking what's for tea."
Deep down, she admits, she knows the truth; Matthew, her lovely boy, is gone.
And as if the ordeal of losing a young man with so much of his live just beginning was not enough for Joanne and his dad David Cryer, more pain and anguish was heaped on their shoulders.
Despite the account of the devastated holiday party, it was claimed Matthew had died as a result of drinking. The autopsy by the Greek authorities ruled the cause of death was water on the lungs, which is often caused by someone inhaling their vomit while drunk.
News reports followed suit: Young Brit dies after drinking spree in Greek club.
The family reeled in shock - particularly when callous comments were made by members of the public on newspaper websites and the Sheffield Forum.
"The things people were saying about him were so incredibly painful. And we couldn't accept his death was down to drinking," says
Joanne. "Matthew was a sensible boy and he wasn't a big drinker. He had just started going out to the pub at home and I accepted that - it is what most people of his age do. He never once came home really drunk."
People also criticised the party of friends Matthew had been holidaying with. Why hadn't they helped him, they raged.
Says Joanne: "I don't blame the people who were on that holiday with him at all, I just wish things had happened differently; that the boys had stuck together. But one lad had got drunk and two had taken him back to his room. Matthew and one friend were at the club - and the bouncers dragged my son out while his friend was in the toilet. He found out bouncers had dragged Matthew outside and alerted the others, but no one could find him.
"The boys have been wonderful to us. They are devastated and it breaks my heart to know their lives will be affected by this for a long time.They are young lads and they are raising money in his memory, laying flowers on his grave and having his name tattooed on their arms.
"I just hope that they value their lives all the more because Matthew lost his and keep themselves safe."
Thankfully, the news stories of a young lad dying after binge-drinking on the first night of his holidays did provoke another reaction - outraged witnesses came forward to say that the reports were wrong.
Their version of events painted a very different picture - that of a boy sitting quietly at the bar of the Laganas nightclub Cocktails and Dream, a commotion breaking out in the club, bouncers alighting on Matthew.
While his mother Joanne sat at home in Gaunt Close, Killamarsh, hoping he was having the time of his life, witnesses say Matthew was being dragged out of the club and thrown downstairs.
As she went to bed that night, he was dying on a pavement surrounded by holidaymakers trying to revive him. The witnesses claim Greek police stood by and the ambulance took an hour to arrive.
Joanne remembers the day she saw her son again. "He was at the undertaker's. I saw the bruises on his back and his head, the grab marks under his arms.
"Someone had done that to him, my beautiful son. The little boy I had taken such care of for 17 years. I felt so angry; he had been treated like he didn't matter, and he did.
"I hoped that he hadn't felt too frightened or been in pain. And I wished I had been there. I'm a nurse. Maybe I could have saved him.Though the fact is, if I had been there, it would never have happened."
Horrified that there could well have been a cover-up by Greek authorities, the family gathered their strength and called on Derbyshire police to find out what had really happened to Matthew.They interviewed witnesses countrywide and slowly, the events of Matthew's last night were pieced together.
Enough questions were raised for a Home Office pathologist to carry out a further post-mortem. He found that four serious head injuries had caused bleeding in the brain.
And last month came a major step in the family's battle for justice.
Chesterfield coroner's court ruled Matthew had died unlawfully after hearing witnesses' accounts that Matthew was dragged from the club for no reason, was punched in the jaw then "half pushed" down an outdoor staircase. He fell and hit his head, causing the fatal brain injuries.
Coroner Dr Robert Hunter criticised Greek police. "Their lack of action beggars belief," he said. "It's astounding. At no time did they approach Matthew to give first aid and they did not appear to make reasonable inquiries."
Says Joanne: "Now we want action in Greece. We want the police to find the bouncers and bring them to justice.
Your child dies and everyone walks away from it. How can that be right?
"We are want justice for Matthew - and we want the Greek authorities to put laws in place that prevents club bouncers from treating anyone else like they treated Matthew and teaches them to have more respect for the safety of young people.
"If they don't then this could happen again. And in our opinion, that means no one's son or daughter is safe to go there."
MORE: We demand justice for Matthew Cryer
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Friday 25 May 2012
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