A mishap in the Foreign Office meant a devastated son was left in the dark about his mother’s death for more than a month – before being forced to fork out £3,300 to have her body repatriated.

Neil Davis, 46, told the Daily Mail that the mystery surrounding 71-year-old June’s death in the exotic resort of Hurghada, Egypt, has been a ‘living nightmare’.

He last heard his beloved mother speak the day before she jetted off to northern Africa – where he was told she was meeting a friend – on March 2 via a voice note.

Just three days later the pensioner, who ‘would have done anything for anyone’, was found dead in the Red Sea.

Yet a ‘miscommunication’ between the Foreign Office and Egyptian authorities meant that Mr Davis and his sister Katy, 40, spent weeks fretting about her whereabouts.

The son, from Staffordshire, fumed: ‘The Foreign Office have been completely useless throughout the whole situation. The lack of information we’ve been given has been astounding.

‘Mum left me a voice note before she went away just to tell me where she was going. She’d also messaged one of her friends. But then we had no contact from her for a couple of weeks.

‘I’d noticed that she hadn’t been on WhatsApp for days. That was very unusual for her, very out of character. She’d always let you know where she was going, what she was doing.

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Neil Davis (pictured left) had to wait more than eight weeks for his mother (pictured centre) June’s body to be repatriated from Egypt

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June died after getting into difficulty in the water off Hurghada (pictured), on the eastern coast of Egypt, before suffering a heart attack

‘We let the police know but they never really seemed to take it seriously. They said they could see that she’d landed in Hurghada and just assumed that she’d extended her holiday.

‘They had no knowledge of that – they were just assuming. It was very cavalier.’

It wasn’t until April 6 – 32 days after June’s death – that Mr Davis was dealt the heartbreaking news that his mother had passed away via an email from the Foreign Office.

He was told that June’s body was discovered after, the authorities said, she got into difficulty in the ocean and subsequently suffered a heart attack.

However, Mr Davis remains sceptical over that cause of death, arguing that it ‘doesn’t ring true’ with the woman he knew and lived with until as recently as December.

‘About 18 months ago, she dislocated her shoulder and had an operation,’ he explains.

‘She had arthritis in her knees and a bad back. She had pretty restricted movement. We were told that she had gone swimming in the sea, got into difficulty and had a heart attack.

‘It just doesn’t ring true. She wouldn’t have gone swimming out in deep water. As far as I know, she would only ever go up to her waist. It just didn’t seem right and the information we were given was so sparse.’

It took the Foreign Office a further three weeks to make Mr Davis aware of where his mother’s body was being stored. It had, by that point, been left with the country’s public prosecutor for almost two months.

June made it her wish while she was still alive to be buried back in Staffordshire at the same gravesite where her parents were laid to rest.

But, due to the amount of time her body had been preserved in Africa, Mr Davis was told by the Foreign Office in late April that the Egyptians were threatening to bury her abroad without his consent.

After being advised to contact a British funeral director, the utterly bemused Englishman was later forced to fork out £3,300 to have his mother repatriated home. His family have now set up a GoFundMe page to try to give her the send off she deserves.

Mr Davis had hoped that cost could be covered by his mother’s travel insurance, though the company has since said it will only be contributing a maximum of £2,000, pending approval.

June returned to Stafford on Friday April 15, 41 days after she passed away. The mother-of-two’s funeral is yet to take place.

Her son describes the ordeal as ‘totally ridiculous’, and one which he hopes no other mourner has to endure.

‘I had been in contact with the Foreign Office again and it was eight or nine weeks before I actually found out where mum was being kept,’ he says.

‘I was told that, because of the amount of time the Egyptians had the body, the public prosecutor over there had got involved and basically decided to bury her, even though I’d told the Foreign Office multiple times they had no consent from anyone.

‘So then I had to run around trying to sort a funeral director. I was told it would be thousands to have the body sent back – and not a lot of people have that sort of money available.

‘I was thinking at this point that they could have already buried her out there. I looked online and it seemed as though she would have been buried at a charity gravesite.

‘That made my skin crawl because I can only imagine how many people might be at that plot. And there probably wouldn’t have even been a headstone.

‘I’ve never experienced anything like it. It was just absolutely horrible.’

Mr Davis was assured that his mother’s belongings, including her mobile phone, would be returned to the United Kingdom along with her body. Yet, still, they remain with the public prosecutor in Egypt.

He has set up a GoFundMe to help fund a funeral for June and, he hopes, contribute to charity in her memory.

Mr Davis remembers his mother as a ‘selfless’ woman who always thought about others.

He said: ‘She just always wanted to help people. Sometimes she’d go about it in the wrong way, it’d feel like she was telling you what to do – but it was just because she was that invested in people.

‘She just wanted the best for them, so she’d always be trying to give advice. She was always trying to help people.

‘I just had to get her body back. I said from the very start that I’d do whatever it takes to bring my mum home, because she deserves to be buried with her mum and dad. That’s what she would have wanted.’

The Foreign Office were approached for comment by the Daily Mail.