I begin this week with an open apology to the family of Justin Chapman, 21, who died suddenly at his home in The Orchard, Thwaites.

Due to an error the formal announcement of his death appeared in the wrong column - which added to his devoted family's grief.

I'm still trying to find out exactly what happened. I can assure the family and other readers who called to express their concerns that we are retracing the issue from the moment we were contacted by David Gallagher Funeral Directors to place the announcement, in a bid to prevent it ever happening again.

I must also apologise to Mr Gallagher for the embarrassment and inconvenience it caused him.

Sadly I wasn't in the office on Friday to take the calls from his family and to apologise personally there and then, and to give assurances that the matter is under investigation.

It is one of those errors which you hope never happens - but it did. Through this column I wholeheartedly apologise to Justin's family and friends (who knew him as Juzy) on behalf of the newspaper and its staff.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.