Family challenge government as they launch book on their struggle today

Eight months ago, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the British authorities failed to protect the life of Christopher Edwards, who was kicked to death in a prison cell - and failed to investigate and give his family proper access to open and rigorous investigation and a remedy in the courts. In a landmark judgment last March, the Court ruled that the UK had breached the Human Rights Convention on four counts relating to the death of Christopher Edwards and the proceedings that followed.

But on the eve of launching a book that details their fight for justice and the truth after Christopher was killed, his parents are concerned that the Government still has not announced any action to tackle these issues. The couple believe that they and the community are entitled to know what actions have been or are being taken, in the light of the Court verdict, to protect the right to life of vulnerable prisoners and to ensure that future bereaved families are not denied effective investigation or a remedy within the UK legal system.

Audrey Edwards said: "The authorities should learn the lessons from Christopher's case so they can better protect people's lives in future. Families should know that their rights to an investigation which meets European Court standards have been acknowledged by Government and procedures put in place to ensure that such an investigation is established.

"We should not have had to battle for eight years to get this far to find out what happened to our son and nor should other families in future. The law must change: deaths in custody must be the subject of open and independent investigation".

No Truth, No Justice - Audrey Edwards' account of her struggle - was 'launched' today at the Institute of Materials in London. The event was hosted by Jon Snow of Channel 4 News. Speakers included Audrey Edwards, Nancy Collins (Liberty/PAS lawyer who took the case), Alan Hurst MP and Martin Narey, director of the Prison Service.

No Truth, No Justice catalogues Audrey and Paul Edwards' extraordinary journey to this point. They have battled through innumerable barriers put up by people in the NHS, Prison Service, Police, CPS, justice system and even in the inquiry process - finally reaching the European Court with Liberty, resulting in that Court's ground-breaking verdict. It is a personal, resonant and absorbing story - of their struggle to find out the truth about their son's death, in the face of official obstruction on a grand scale.

In March 2002, the European Court delivered a landmark judgment, one of the most damning yet delivered against a UK government. The Court found (inter alia) that the UK authorities had failed to protect Christopher's life, and failed to investigate properly after his death.

In June, Audrey Edwards was awarded the first-ever Lord Longford Memorial Award for prison reform. The citation includes the following: "Audrey together with her husband Paul has with great courage and single-mindedness moved forward from this personal tragedy to focus public and political attention on the neglected area of mental health and prisons ... The prize judges were impressed by her success in making the system sit up and take notice".

No Truth, No Justice describes their campaign; warns of the way individual rights risk being over-ridden by the state; and acknowledges the supreme efforts of dedicated individuals to preserve the integrity of public services. It also makes recommendations for preventing similar tragedies in future.

£12 (&£2.50p&p). Waterside Press 01962 855567; www.watersidepress.co.uk.

Liberty took the Edwards' case to the European Court. In his foreword to the book, John Wadham, director of Liberty, writes:
"The death of a loved one is tragic enough: then to have to fight to find out the truth, to struggle for every scrap of information from the responsible authorities, is not acceptable. The relatives of those that die in custody are entitled to an open system, that gets at the truth and allows them to get on with their lives and to deal with their loss. The system doesn't work: it has to change".