'I did not kill my little brother' says man seeking closure after tragic Milton Keynes incident

A man is seeking closure after claiming he feels he’s been blamed for a tragedy that took his little brother’s life when they were both small children.

James Wilson was living in Stantonbury in Milton Keynes in 1981, after his mum moved him and brother Steven from Scotland to start a new life in the new city.

He was seven-years-old and Steven was just five.

The boys’ parents had separated and James says he recalls getting his brother up himself some mornings and preparing breakfast by toasting bread over the gas cooker.

One morning, just before Christmas, James says there was no bread in the house and that he and his brother were hungry when they spotted a packet of what they believed were brightly coloured red Smarties-like "sweets".

In fact they were prescription tablets.

"We both took some. My brother was munching away on his but I didn’t like the taste, so I gave most of mine to him,” said James, who is now 49 and a dad himself.

"I then went off to school. It was Christmas party day and I knew we were all getting a present from the teachers. My last words to my brother was a promise to bring my present back for him.”

James remembers vomiting at school and the teachers tried to call his mum, but there was no reply. Unbeknownst to him, she was at the hospital with his critically-ill brother as doctors battled to save him from the massive overdose. Sadly, he never recovered.

"I remember coming home carrying my party present – an England football notebook and a pen – to give to Steven,” James said.

“But he and my mother were not there. A neighbour was there to keep an eye on me. I had no idea what had happened.”

It was only days later, when James was sent to the shop to pick up a local paper, that the sickening truth dawned.

"There was a picture of my brother on the front page with the headline ‘Tragedy of Little Boy’. I realised he was dead.”

Afterwards an inquest ruled the death was accidental and the family moved back to Scotland, where James still lives today and works as a digger driver. He and his mother have lost touch. But he says the loss of Steven has blighted his entire life – leaving him feeling “guilty and accused”.

He feels there is an inference that he was to blame for his brother taking the pills – and claims some members of his family do not talk to him to this day because of the incident.

"I gave Steven some of my pills so people must think it was my fault. But we were hungry because there was no food... I honestly thought they were sweets,” he said.

"It has affected my mental health my whole life. I’ve suffered with depression for decades and it’s all because of this.”

This Christmas was 42 years on from the tragedy. And James has vowed to finally get closure by asking the MK Citizen to print his story.

"I just want people to know I did not kill my little brother. I am not a murderer... I just didn’t want him to be hungry."