Kenyan riot squad try to block 59-year-old British aristocrat as she lays roses outside the police station linked to her son¿s mysterious death
A grieving mother was confronted by riot police as she tried to lay flowers at the Kenyan police station where her son was detained before he died in suspicious circumstances.
Hilary Monson was marking the anniversary of the death of her aristocrat son Alexander, who died in May last year just hours after being detained by officers in the coastal town of Diani.
The 28-year-old – son of Nicholas, the 12th Baron Monson and his former wife Hilary – died of a massive blood clot on his brain after being taken to hospital for treatment.
A Kenyan police inquiry into the former Marlborough schoolboy's death has now concluded that Mr Monson was hit over the head with a blunt instrument and the injury was not inflicted by anyone in custody.
No one has so far been arrested, and his parents have vowed to bring Alexander’s killers to justice.
More... 'The sweet memories we made together will stay with me forever': Father's heartbreaking tribute to daughter, two, found dead in house as international hunt for mother continues Now White Widow is connected to British-born Al Qaeda bomb maker: Fugitive wife of 7/7 terrorist was key link between Pakistan and East African extremists Parents of girl, five, who drowned at Egyptian hotel: 'We left our daughter with her 15-year-old sister while we bought snacks'Wearing a black dress with 'A mother's love never dies' printed across it, Mrs Monson, 59, was laying 365 roses between the hospital and the police station when paramilitary officers from the General Service Unit of the Kenyan Police tried to block her way.
The officers of the heavily-trained unit, which usually deals with situations affecting 'internal security' and civil disorder, were forced to back down by angry human right campaigners sympathetic to her cause and critical of Kenya's police, who they claim operate with impunity and frequently commit murder.
Mrs Monson was eventually able to push flowers through the grille of the concrete floor where her son was discovered in severe distress, reports The Times.
The keen artist enjoyed spending time with his mother Hilary, centre, and sister Isabella, left, in Kenya where the two run an accommodation complex Alexander Monson, a talented artist, pictured with his sister Isabella in Diani, Kenya in 2010 where the pair spent a lot of timeShe said: 'There are lots of people who suffer horrendous things in exactly the same way, but who don't have a way to protest.
'People just disappear, it happens all the time. I owe it to Alexander, and the country, to stand up.'
Mr Monson was arrested outside a nightclub under suspicion of smoking cannabis.
According to local police, he was about to be interviewed in custody when he complained of feeling sick and was taken to hospital. His mother, who was with him when he died, says he was handcuffed to the hospital bed.
A family spokesman said he was told by hospital doctors that police brought him in claiming he had overdosed. The contusion to his skull was revealed only during the autopsy, which also found he had not overdosed.
Justice: Baron Nicolas Monson is conducting his own investigation into his son's death. Right, the hospital where he diedMrs Monson added: 'His condition, in the book, was described as normal. Then at nine o'clock the next morning he was in a coma from which he never recovered... he was handcuffed to the bed and I watched him die.'
As heir to the Monson barony, Alexander lived a life of privilege. Described by his father as a ‘golden boy’, he had a degree in psychology from London’s City University and, a talented artist, went on to study at Chelsea Art College where he gained a scholarship.
Mr Monson lived in London but spent much of the year in Kenya with his mother Hilary, 58, and sister Isabella, 25, who run the Four Twenty South complex of self-catering cottages in the Indian Ocean resort of Diani, where accommodation can cost up to £800 a night.
