POLICE have said sorry to an Andover family who were not told about their son’s death for two weeks over the Christmas period.

But despite the apology, questions remain unanswered about why they were not contacted by the police or coroner.

As previously reported by the Advertiser, Tracy and Bob Kness, of Valencia Way, were told of their son Adam Kness’ death on New Year’s Eve – two weeks after he was found dead in a flat in Bristol on 17 December.

And it was only because the man whose flat Adam died in retrieved his phone and contacted his girlfriend Phae that the family found out.

No attempts were made by the police or coroner to contact the family and if it had not been for the Christmas backlog, his body would have been cremated without the family knowing.

They have since received correspondence from Avon and Somerset Police apologising, but it still leaves questions unanswered about how the matter was handled at the time.

Adam, 33, had stormed out of the caravan he and Phae lived in on 12 December and he had gone to his friend Dan’s flat on 15 December.

Dan called the paramedics in the early hours of the morning on 17 December after they had fallen asleep in the living room and he woke to find that Adam was not breathing.

The police attended the scene shortly after and Adam’s body was taken to the mortuary.

None of Adam’s belongings were retrieved from the flat – he always carried a mobile phone which was left in the possession of Dan – and a thorough search of the police database was not made to trace the family.

The Kness’ had been contacted in the past by Avon and Somerset Police via the database when Adam had been in trouble previously.

Writing to the family, Chief Inspector Andy Bennett apologised and admitted that the circumstances of Adam’s death made tracing the family “difficult but not impossible”.

He went on to say: “We could have done more and improved our communication with the coroner’s office.”

Mrs Kness told the Advertiser: “I have always had a lot of respect for the police and I know that they have a really hard job, but as hard as the job is I think they need to remember there are consequences.

“If there hadn’t been that phone call made to Phae, we would still never have known. We would have been wondering where he was.”

Adam lived a nomadic lifestyle that involved drug abuse, and a post mortem has confirmed there was a mixture of drugs in his system.

Avon and Somerset Police declined to make any further comment. An inquest date to determine the cause of Adam’s death has been set for 14 May.