A FAMILY'S fight for justice for their son who was stabbed to death at a Stourbridge nightspot has taken a few positive steps forward.

The heartbroken family of 24-year-old Ryan Passey, who was killed in August 2017, travelled to London this week for meetings with Government ministers about their Justice for Ryan campaign.

Ryan's dad Adrian, mum Gillian, step-dad Phil and family friend Jason Connon met with Home Secretary Sajid Javid on Monday (May 13) and with Barry Sheenan MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Miscarriages of Justice, on Tuesday (May 14).

Campaign spokesman Mr Connon said: "The meeting with Sajid Javid went really well and he understood the need for us to get justice for Ryan and offered to support us in our fight for justice.

"The meeting with Barry Sheerman also went extremely well and like the Home Secretary he has offered to also support our campaign.

"He will be raising the details of our case with MPs at next week's meeting of the All Parliamentary Group of Miscarriages of Justice.

"We have come away feeling very positive following our discussions and we are certainly moving forwards in our fight for justice for Ryan.

"We'd like to say a big thank you to Stourbridge MP Margot James for arranging our meetings and also to Margot's assistants Simon Phipps and Katy Mallinson for looking after us all on both days."

The family are campaigning for a change in the law to enable relatives of serious crime victims' to appeal in cases of 'perverse verdicts' where jurors have acquitted the accused contrary to the evidence presented in court which is what Ryan's family believe happened when murder accused Kobe Murray, from Dudley, walked free after a trial at Birmingham Crown Court in February last year.

Meanwhile - they are trying to raise tens of thousands of pounds to further their campaign and to help pay for legal costs they will incur. Anyone wishing to make a donation can do so online at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/justiceforryan.

A further meeting is now being planned with the new Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice, Paul Maynard, and the family are also set to meet with the Crown Prosecution Service later this month.

Meanwhile - the family's bid to raise the profile of the Justice for Ryan campaign was given a serendipitous social media boost during their trip to London when they bumped into TV celebrity Anthea Turner, who tweeted about their poignant story to her 26,365 followers.

Mr Connon said: "We spoke with her about our campaign and meeting and she was really lovely.

"We spent a few hours having drinks together and she took one of our wristbands and took a selfie of us all together and tweeted it out to her followers."