A WOMAN who suspected her son was dealing in bogus passports has spoken of her Mother's Day anguish after she decided to report him to the police.

Christine Peear-Wilson said that it was one of the hardest decisions she had to make in her life.

But she says police failed to act promptly and her son - a former King's School pupil - was not stopped and questioned before he flew out of Heathrow.

Son James, 25, was arrested six months later in Bangkok, charged with possessing 150 bogus passports and given a 12-month sentence, later reduced to six months, in a Thai jail.

Now, 15 months later, North Wales Police has apologised for its organisational failures and says the service the family received fell short of what is acceptable and expected.

But Christine and her husband, John, who live in Prestatyn, are livid that the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said there was no evidence of misconduct.

They are now drawing up a detailed letter to the IPCC, which they are also passing to their MP for his investigation.

Christine explained why the couple decided to report their son in the first place.

'We felt deeply responsible, even though James was 25 years old, she said. 'We had a duty as parents to protect him.'

They feared James might progress from passport fraud to drugs - in Thailand, he would receive a life sentence for that.

'I felt so passionately responsible - even if I lost his love, it was worth it,' she said.

They have not seen their son since November but say they hope and pray he is safe and well.

Christine, currently fighting a personal battle against serious illness, says: 'Of course we forgive him for his error of judgment and love him unconditionally.'

James, their youngest son, was educated at home until he was 11, when his mother fell ill.

He took scholarships, won a place at King's School and later at Warwick University to study English.

His parents almost lost contact with him while he was at university and one summer he rang from Heathrow to say he was going to Australia and Thailand.

In May 2003, he came home from Thailand and his parents suspected that he was passing illegal passports.

'If the police had acted properly, James would and should have been detained at Heathrow and should never have been allowed to fly back to Bangkok,' said Christine.

A police investigation has revealed the initial report was wrongly recorded as a possible bank fraud, not passport fraud, which may have affected the urgency given to it.

Complaints were referred to the IPCC but Independent Commissioner for Wales Tom Davies said there was insufficient evidence to justify any misconduct proceedings against any officer.