Tragic father in arms plea

Published on 29/06/2012 02:11

A MAN whose toddler son was shot dead in a cafe in Turkey has met with the First Minister to discuss the campaign for a global treaty on the arms trade.

David Grimason, 40, has been campaigning for tighter controls on the trade of weapons since his two-year-old son Alistair was killed during a gunfight at a cafe in the seaside village of Foca in July 2003.

Alistair was asleep in his pram when an argument broke out at a nearby table and a man opened fire, killing the toddler from East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire.

Mr Grimason, who now lives in Edinburgh, will travel with Oxfam and Amnesty Inernational to UN talks in New York on Saturday.

Crucial, month-long final negotiations get under way at the UN on Monday. First Minister Alex Salmond yesterday gave his backing to the campaign.

Speaking during a meeting with Amnesty International at the Scottish Parliament, Mr Salmond said: “The government is strongly supportive of an international arms trade treaty.”