Son stuck in Vietnamese prison hell as stag do goes horrendously wrong

A north west man is stuck in a Vietnamese prison after a stag do went horrifically wrong, according to his family.

In May, James Ryan, from Kirkby, was arrested by police at Tan Son Nhat International Airport. The 29-year-old has been in jail ever since.

Four weeks on, his family claim they have had limited contact with the 29-year-old - and, despite repeated requests for information from the British embassy, still don't know where he is.

James' older brother Carl, 39, told the ECHO the family are currently experiencing a "nightmare situation". He said: "My mum is in bits and my dad is so worried. We're so stressed about what is going to happen and are just extremely concerned for his wellbeing and safety."

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A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told the ECHO: "We are in contact with the local authorities following the arrest of a British national in Vietnam." When approached with the Ryan family's claims, the spokesperson declined to comment further.

James had originally been in Vietnam for nearly two weeks with a number of others on a stag do. However, the Ryan family claim he was arrested for the alleged theft of a bottle of aftershave, which they believe may have happened because James had lost his wallet and needed more money.

Carl, who said a theft would be extremely out of character, told the ECHO the family initially had contact with James as he was allowed to keep his phone. They claim he was able to update them with voice notes about his whereabouts and told them he believed he was being kept in an immigration office near the airport but believed he would only be there for three days before he was then released.

However, the family lost contact with him shortly after and believe he was taken to a police detention centre. The family filed a missing persons report on May 20 and, after not hearing any updates for 10 days, were notified by the British embassy that James was detained pending an investigation.

Although the embassy told the family James was safe and well, the family claim the embassy said they were unable to tell them where in Vietnam he was due to data protection. Carl told the ECHO: "I had planned to go with my dad to find him, but after hearing he was safe we decided to hold off for a few days as we didn't have a clue where he was. But it was such a slow process, so last Thursday I had had enough and said we need to go because the embassy just kept giving us the same spiel."

With the embassy in a different part of Vietnam, Carl and his dad Eddie visited a British consulate but were again told they were unable to share James' location due to data protection. Carl said they took with them James's birth certificate to prove they were related, but were told British officials were yet to visit James to confirm he was happy with his location being shared.

Carl and his dad said after getting no answers as to where James was they visited a number of detention centres themselves but to no avail. Carl said: "They all said nothing, but the language barrier was very difficult. I emailed about 10 lawyers out there and asked if they could help by coming around with us to translate but I got no responses.

"We spoke again with the embassy and asked when they were going to go and see him. They said the process does take about two or three weeks. We got back from Vietnam yesterday afternoon and I finally had contact - they said they were going to see him on June 18.

"We now just have to wait for them to go and see him. After that we will have to go back. We just don't know what will happen. We heard he could be released on bail, but they would take his passport away from him. He then could be waiting for sentence for 12 months."

Because the family are facing the unknown, Carl said both his parents have taken out part of their pensions to ensure they can get some answers. They have also set up a GoFundMe page to help fund travel back to east Asia when the time comes.

Carl added: "We're all exhausted. I feel like I haven't slept for about a week. I have my own partner and three kids to worry about. But it's coming up for a month and we still haven't heard a single thing. We're getting so many messages from people who are worried about him.

"It's his birthday on July 2 - we don't even know where he will turn 30. The embassy has been terrible but we have to keep trying. At the moment we are just stuck in limbo waiting for information on how we can get him home."