THE family of a young Worcester man who killed himself on Christmas Day say they are still waiting for answers from the prison where he died.

James Edge was discovered by prison officers at about 6am on December 25 in his cell at Glen Parva prison, Leicester.

His family were only told of his death eight hours later when officers arrived at their door to break the news.

Since then, his distraught grandmother Daphne Edge, of Drake Avenue, Dines Green – with whom 20-year-old Mr Edge had lived on-and-off since he was eight – has spent hours on the phone each day, trying to get answers.

“In effect we have been left in the dark and Glen Parva have a lot to answer for,” she said. “Nobody has explained to me yet how it happened.”

Mr Edge had spent several previous Christmases in prison, but the family has been told that he seemed down in the weeks leading up to his death.

His uncles Jason and Simon Edge are now questioning why no one checked on him between the time the cell doors were locked on Christmas Eve and when his body was discovered and why it took so long for the family to be informed of his death.

Mr Edge, who suffered from ADHD, had been in and out of trouble for most of his life and his family described him as almost institutionalised.

He was given an ASBO at 15 to stop him hanging around with a group of friends in Dines Green, who had been terrorising the neighbourhood.

But his family said he was a popular man with lots of friends who simply wanted to be the centre of attention.

Simon Edge said: “Because of the ADHD he just went that little bit further than everyone else. If you did not know him you would think he was a real cheeky, in your face type kid.”

Mrs Edge added: “I used to call him my cheeky little bugger.”

Mr Edge had got out of prison in August, after serving part of a three-year sentence but was recalled in October after he broke the terms of his release.

“He just wanted to settle down,” said Simon. “He was just starting to get into real life. I think he was in love with his girlfriend.”

Mr Edge leaves a two-year-old daughter Mia.

A spokesman for the Prison Service confirmed Mr Edge had been found dead at at approximately 6am on Christmas Day.

"As with all deaths in custody, there will be an investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman," he said.