[Ammi]

The parents of a 17-year-old who were unaware he had been arrested for drink driving before he killed himself are calling for a change in the law.

Nick and Jane Lawton were not told their son, Joseph, had been held by police or that he had spent a night in a cell.

They say it is an anomaly in the law that 17-year-olds are treated as adults when arrested but as children if they are charged.

Being treated as adults means police do not have to tell parents of 17-year-olds they have been arrested or offer them the opportunity to have an adult present during interviews.

Joseph Lawton had just passed his driving test when he went to a party near his home in Disley, near Stockport.

He had taken the train but decided to drive back from the station. His parents thought he was staying the night with friends.

His father, Nick, told Sky News: "He made a bad decision and he chose to drive and he was stopped and breathalysed. He failed the breathalyser and he was arrested."

His parents said when he returned home he did not mention what had happened and he had told his friends he had got away with it.

Three nights later, when he was alone at home, he shot himself with a gun from the family farm. His father found him in the lounge. He was the couple's only child.

His mother, Jane, said: "The charge sheet was in front of him telling us that was why he'd done what he did; and that was the first thing that we knew."

Joseph had left notes for his parents, best friend and girlfriend. His father said: "When we read his letters eventually they confirmed it. He just thought that he'd closed the door to his future.

"But when you think that if we'd had a phone call from the police while he was in the police station - one phone call - I'd have been straight down there.

"I would have spoken to him - I would have told him, supported him, told him that it's not the end of everything - 'you're still going to university, you'll still get a job. 'Things might be a little bit more difficult but at the end of the day we'll be able to get through it'.

"But we weren't given that opportunity."

Joseph's mother added: "We firmly believe that if Joe had contacted us, if we'd have been able to speak to him, he'd still be alive today."

The Lawtons are being supported by the parents of Edward Thornber who killed himself aged 17 after he was summoned to court for possessing cannabis worth 50p.

Today the families will hand a 52,000-signature petition in to Downing Street. A judicial review into the issue is ongoing.

Lawyer Shauneene Lambe, who works for the charity Just For Kids Law , told Sky News: "As it stands, at the moment, 17-year-olds are treated as if they are adults when they go to the police station.

"If they are sent to court, if they were charged for example, they would go back to being treated like children in the court system.

"So there's an anomaly within the police station, that we believe should be changed."