SUSPICIOUS circumstances continue to surround the death of a young man from Nailsea, nine years after he was found unconscious in a car in Spain.

Jason Whitehead, of North Lane, had travelled to Tenerife in 2000 to visit his brother John, who had lived and worked on the island for more than a decade.

Jason, then 27, spent three months on the island with John and his wife and two children. He told friends he wanted to quit his heroin addiction, but it is unclear whether he continued to take drugs during his stay.

What is known is that on the morning after Jason was due to fly back to the UK on August 8, 2000, he was found unconscious by road sweepers in his brother's red Seat Ibiza in the square of the northern town of Puerto de la Cruz. Jason had been driven to the airport by a friend of his brother's known only as Steve.

He checked his bags in, went through passport control, but never boarded the plane.

The next morning, Jason was found in the square after being driven and left there by Steve, despite John living nearby.

He was immediately taken to hospital but never regained consciousness and died on October 10.

Despite numerous requests, the Spanish authorities refused Avon and Somerset police access to Tenerife to conduct their own inquiries.

Because Jason's body had been embalmed, no toxicology reports could be carried out once he had been repatriated, but according to John, his brother had been found with needle marks all over his body and opiates in his blood stream.

His medical records have never been released, however, so this information cannot be verified.

Jason's mother Jennifer Whitehead remains convinced that John is hiding the true circumstances behind his younger brother's death.

In a statement read on her behalf to Flax Bourton Coroner's Court, Mrs Whitehead said: "The events surrounding Jason's death are a complete and utter mystery to me. I simply want to know the whole truth.

"John quite unbelievably has always maintained that Jason took his own life and I have never been able to contact Steve.

"I know that John has been telling lies and there is much more about the incident and circumstances surrounding it than he is saying."

Avon coroner's officer Allan Melhuish said that Avon and Somerset police had been "thwarted" in their attempts to investigate Jason's death.

He said: "It was almost as if a line was drawn under it (by the Tenerife authorities) and there was not very much we could do. We felt as if John had the key to it. And Steve seemed to disappear within a few days of Jason dying."

Avon deputy coroner Tony Woodburn said that he had no choice but to give an open verdict on the cause of Jason's death.

He said: "The circumstances which led to Jason being found in this car are wholly unacceptable.

"His mother Jennifer Whitehead must still be beside herself with frustration in not knowing how Jason was found in this parked car.

"The circumstances are wholly unsatisfactory and in many ways suspicious."