Star mourns addict son

Ricky Tomlinson is today in mourning after the death of his eldest son following a long fight with alcohol and heroin addiction.

Clifton Tomlinson died of alcoholic liver disease after a month in hospital, three days before his 34th birthday. At his bedside were his mother Marlene and girlfriend Sue.

The actor's second wife Rita said the star, who had visited Clifton regularly over the past few days, had been hit "pretty bad" by the death and added: "The whole family are devastated."

A friend of Clifton's, Steve Williams, 18, said: "Clifton's dad told him to stop drinking, but he didn't listen."

It is thought Clifton began drinking heavily following a long struggle against heroin addiction. In December 2002 he undertook a five-day detox programme at a clinic in Harrogate after his father agreed to pay the ?2,950 cost. Tomlinson, a militant trade unionist imprisoned for his activities in the Seventies who went on to make his name as an actor on Brookside before starring in The Royle Family, was thought to have had a strained relationship with Clifton, his brother Gareth, 31, and sister Katie, 27.

At the time, his first wife Marlene revealed how Tomlinson had paid for the treatment after she phoned him to tell him of his son's condition. She said: "He was in a desperate state, hollow-eyed, gaunt, barely eating, grey-skinned, lethargic and irritable."

She said she called Tomlinson "partly because I needed money to get him into a clinic. He rang me a few weeks after I'd told him, saying he'd found a week-long heroin addiction programme on the internet."

Two years earlier Clifton had been fined ?60 for obstructing police and resisting arrest following a drunken scuffle. Weeks later Gareth - diagnosed as schizophrenic - barricaded himself into his flat and claimed he had a gun. Tomlinson called the police and had him sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

He said at the time: "I can't think of anything more terrible for a father than to turn in his own son but what else could I do? He said he had a gun and though I didn't believe it, I wasn't prepared to take the chance. I phoned the police and they sent an armed squad."

A year ago Tomlinson, who won praise for his performance as a builder in Ken Loach's 1990 film Riff Raff, said: "They're great now. Clifton is fit as a fiddle and Gareth is fine as long as he takes his medication."

Mr Williams told however how Clifton would go drinking cider with friends near his home in Wrexham. He said: "Clifton's dad always sorted him out with money and he wore designer gear, but he didn't behave as if he was rich."

Tomlinson's former agent Patrick Nyland said: "I was told three weeks ago that his son was dying. This had been going on for a long time. Clifton was a known drug addict." North East Wales coroner John Hughes said the post mortem showed alcoholic liver disease and opened and adjourned an inquest.

Clifton's mother was too upset to comment. A friend said: "She still cannot believe it's happened. Marlene has been very ill herself recently but has still supported Clifton throughout his illness and was with him when he died."