JAMES DEAN’S parents spoke yesterday of how a holiday in France was cut short by news of their son’s death. Chris and Martine Dean were enjoying a meal at a restaurant near St Malo in September when the friends they were with received a call to say that James had been stabbed.

On Friday, Craig Rouget, 19, was convicted of the murder of the 21-year-old.

In Guernsey, their daughters, Kelly Dean and Lindsey McLaren, also heard the news through friends. They were trying to determine the seriousness of the situation and the hospital told them that their brother was being taken to theatre.

Mr Dean made a call to the hospital, where he spoke to a doctor.

‘He asked me if I was on my own and told me to sit down,’ said Mr Dean.

‘He then said that James hadn’t made it to theatre.’

Mr Dean said he went deathly white and could not speak any more. His friend, Kevin Taylor, had to continue the call.

It was 11pm UK time and James had died about 20 minutes earlier.

‘It was almost a feeling of disbelief and it was as if we were somewhere we shouldn’t be,’ said Mr Dean.

Mr Taylor spent hours working with police liaison officers in an effort to get the couple home. Guernsey Airport could have been opened for them, but a French one could not.

The Deans eventually arrived back in Guernsey by charter flight at 9am the following day.

‘That night was the longest of our lives and we had no sleep at all,’ said Mr Dean.

Mrs Dean said they had been desperate to get back to the rest of the family.

Miss Dean said she and her sister had initially heard of the incident in the High Street through friends.

‘We wanted to find out how serious it was first before we told mum and dad,’ she said.

Mrs McLaren drove to the hospital, where she found the doors of the accident and emergency department closed and police outside. She called her cousin to say she could not get in and the latter set out for the hospital.

‘The next day, for some reason, I checked the time of that call on my mobile phone,’ she said. ‘It was 10.37pm, the time that James was pronounced dead.’