Paul Day's parents spoke exclusively to The Northern Echo yesterday at the end of the inquest into his death.

Andy and Pauline Day said that before turning to crime, their son was a teenager with the world at his feet.

A talented footballer, he had trials for England youth and played for the Essex county youth team.

At the age of 14 he was one of 60 people chosen to go to the National Sports Centre at Lilleshall for trials, but failed only because of his height.

Andy Day, paying tribute to the stepson he was proud had taken his name, said: "Paul, whose surname was then Boyea, was signed up for Tottenham Hotspur's School of Excellence.

"He had played for West Ham and Leyton Orient as well. All he had to do was walk the walk and he would have become a professional football player."

But circumstance took a hand when Paul moved with his family from the East End of London to Southend, in Essex.

His mother Pauline said: "We thought we would be giving him and his siblings a better life. But he went wayward.

"He started playing truant and got in with the wrong kids."

Paul's despairing parents saw him descend into a spiral of drug taking. It started with cannabis, and progressed to pills and heroin - and he took to crime to feed his addiction.

Mrs Day said: "He was an outgoing and friendly person. He was never offensive.

"But he had been in and out of institutions so many times that he had learned the prison culture."

Unknown to his parents, Paul had become an informer for the police.

It took Essex Police years to concede he had once been a registered informer.

Mrs and Mrs Day are still trying to unravel the full truth about his time as an informer.

Mr Day said: "I think it may have reached the stage that police thought he would be useful to them.

"He never discussed it with us until a year before his death. It wasn't something that he was proud of."

Mrs Day said her son was no longer an informer at the time of his death and had been off drugs for two years when he died.

She said: "He was a challenging person, but he was well liked. If people showed him respect he returned it."

After his death, prison officers at Wandsworth arranged a memorial service, which was well attended by inmates and staff alike.

Mr Day said: "Paul left a request in a note he left before he died that we keep him at home.

"After cremation we had his ashes put in a special box. We keep that at home, where we have a memorial with flowers, photographs and his cuddly toys.

"So everytime we come home, he is there. When this is all over we will release him from this casket."

Mrs Day said: "He was looking to the future. He had a lovely girlfriend to come home to and a 16-year-old daughter. He will be sadly missed."