The police, who initially refused to look for Ricky, found his body in the river, not far from where he was last seen, seven days after his parents reported him missing and several days after they had pleaded for police divers to go into the river.

The police concluded that Ricky had died ``accidentally'' having ``fallen into the river'' when he went to relieve himself. But Sukhdev Reel refused to believe it was as simple as this. For two years, she has fought hard to find out how her son ended up dead in a river. The police, she says, simply refused to consider the facts of the case. They ignored theinformation from Ricky's friends about the racist attack, and the fact that Ricky was terrified of open water and would not willingly have gone near the river.

Besides, a post-mortem report found that Ricky's bladder was full, contradicting their theory. The Reel's campaign has led to three police officers being ``reprimanded'' for the ``weak'' and ``flawed'' manner in which they handled the case. But they still have no answers.

An inquest into Ricky's death opened this week giving Sukhdev and her husband Balwant an opportunity to tell a British court that they are yet to receive an adequate explanation for their son's death. The inquest comes after the government re-opened investigations into possible race crimes.Balwant Reel, a carpenter at Eton College, told the inquest jury in west London that when he and two of Ricky's friends reported Ricky missing at Kingston police station, the police officer in charge failed to take any notes, and told him that his son may have been drunk and with a girlfriendthe family did not approve of. Speaking in Punjabi through an interpreter, he said the police officer also told him that they could do nothing for at least 24 hours since Ricky was over 18.

Sukhdev and Balwant Reel told the police that their son was responsible and would not stay out an entire night without telephoning them. They told then that they feared for his safety. Sukhdev Reel, her voice cracking with emotion, told the inquest: ``I told him (the policeman) that Ricky had never gone missing. That if he was late he would also phone me. I was pleading with him that Ricky was in danger but he still refused to do anything.''

When the Reels called the police a second time, the police operator shouted at them and told them they were ``wasting police time.'' With the police clearly unwilling to help, Sukhdev, Balwant and their friends searched the streets of Kingston, handing out copies of Ricky's photograph in the hope of jogging someone's memory.

They also located CCTV footage, showing him beingchased by two white youth. The Reels did everything the police should have done in a case in which both a racist attack and a missing person were involved. But it took the police until August this year, nearly two years after Ricky's death, to accept that a ``racial attack'' had occurred. But they still refuse to link the attack with Ricky's subsequent death. Balwant Reel said earlier: ``My son had such a promising life ahead of him. I don't want my son's death to be in vain. I hope by campaigning, people might begin to realise that it's racism that needs to be killed, not people. We need this so that no other families go through the same ordeal we've had to.''