IT'S a story no parent would ever want to write.

But seven years on from his son's death in Iraq, Bill Stewardson is hoping his book 'Fear of a Blank Mind: An Epitaph for a Generation?' will help other bereaved parents and raise awareness of the need for minimum standards to be brought in following a family bereavement.

Bill's son Alex Green was shot escorting a convoy in Basra, where he was stationed, on January 13 2007.

The 21-year-old Kingsman, who was from Orford and was described as someone who loved wrestling, football and Arsenal player Ian Wright, had a two-year-old son Bradley when he was killed.

Bill, who was working as an NHS porter in Sheffield at the time, was informed of his son's death over the phone and was told by his employers he could only have one day off for the funeral.

The 54-year-old's campaigning for a minimum standard, which he feels should be about five days off around the funeral, took him to the House of Commons last year.

Bill made notes on his journey over the last seven years, including Alex's barracks getting the date of his death wrong on his memorial plaque, but after finding nothing had changed decided to publish his story to make others aware of the difficulties bereaved parents can face.

He added: "It has taken me until the last 12 months to be able to sit down and write it all out as we're on the verge of going back to war again.

"(After Alex's death) I picked up the phone to speak to a counsellor to be told I would have to wait six weeks and things must have got worse now because of cut backs and my employers told me I could have a day's leave and they didn't even have to give me that.

"I've been going back and to to parliament and everybody is all so sympathetic but nothing has changed.

"I think the average person when they pick up and read this book will say they can't believe it and I've got this awful feeling that in the next two or three years there will be more people standing with tears in their eyes at cenotaphs on Remembrance Day."

Bill appeared on the front page of a number of national newspapers after highlighting the lack of legal minimum standards for bereaved parents but said he has never had contact from his employers asking how they could have handled it better to help other employees in the future.

He added: "Employers are expected instead to do the right thing but I'm living proof employers in the 21st century are incapable of looking after anybody but themselves.

"My partner was told she could have as much time as she needed but my treatment was inhumane to somebody in the darkest place you can ever imagine.

"I started making notes for my own sanity and when I read them back it feels like it happened to someone else.

"Now I've finished writing it, it feels like it's something out there that improvements can be made on rather than something hanging around my neck.

"I didn't manage to get that legislation put in place but I'm hoping the hundreds of people in Warrington that will have never forgotten what happened will pick up the phone, write letters and start conversations as the voice of the public can't be ignored."

Fear of a Blank Mind: An Epitaph for a Generation? is available to buy now via Amazon.