A devastated family today told of their anger after their 26-year-old son died from variant CJD - a disease they say should never have happened.

Christopher Hargreaves, pictured, died peacefully from the rare human form of BSE at his home in Leventhorp just 20 weeks after seeing a doctor complaining of feeling unwell.

The keen bodybuilder had suffered problems at work and visited a doctor who diagnosed depression. His grieving parents Derrick and Evelyn, of Middlebrook Crescent, said he coped bravely with the debilitating symptoms of Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease.

Mr Hargreaves, 52, said: "We know what he has died from and we feel angry that it is a disease that should never have happened in the first place. It is an economic disease and there is no need for it to have ever happened.

"There is 90 to 95 per cent probability that his death was caused by infected beef. There are other possibilities being examined like body piercing and tattoos which he had, but we think it was from meat."

Mr Hargreaves, who works at Parcelnet Logistics in Bradford, said the early symptoms of the disease, which lasts around 15-months, were innocuous.

"They diagnosed depression and gave him anti-depressants but over the following four weeks he started to show physical symptoms and his walking became difficult.

"It was unlike him because everybody who knew him knew he lived life to the full, he really did."

The family then saw a specialist who took Christopher into St Luke's Hospital for tests and when everything else was ruled out CJD was diagnosed.

"We were shocked obviously, because there is no cure for it.

"We knew we were going to have to deal with losing him but my wife and I were ready to accept that's what it was.

"We did a lot of research on the Internet and we were prepared for it, but we didn't tell Chris at that stage.

"He knew it was something serious because he had gone from being a very fit young man to someone who was very ill. He couldn't do the things he wanted to do."

His condition quickly deteriorated with his speech becoming erratic, he had to use a wheelchair to move around and a nurse came from the CJD Surveillance Unit in Edinburgh to help co-ordinate his care.

His 28-year-old sister Nancy who lived in Germany with her husband Jon Rowland, 27, and two-year-old daughter Aimee visited decided to move back home to be close to the family.

Christopher, a former pupil at Rhodesway School, who worked at Eldon Technology Ltd, in Bingley, was told about his condition just before Christmas.

Mr Hargreaves, who said Christopher ate a normal diet and was health-conscious, said: "He was very popular and his friends were devastated they were losing a good friend. His close friends were there for him all the way and came round and took him out for a few beers when he couldn't get out on his own.

"We knew we were getting towards the last two to three weeks and when we came back from the supermarket his breathing was different. He just slipped away in the chair."

Chris died at home with his family on January 17 and his funeral took place at Scholemoor crematorium on Thursday when a collection was made for the Human BSE Foundation and CJD Support Network.

Gill Turner, national CJD case co-ordinator at the CJD Support Network, said she had been working with the family but could not discuss the individual case.

"Variant CJD is thought to be linked to BSE. It is a devastating condition not only for the patient but also for their family and as a support network we can provide advice and information and emotional and practical support.

"The average age range of variant CJD is 29. The youngest has been 15 when she died and the oldest a 74-year-old but it does seem to favour younger people."

A spokesman for the Department of Health said 104 people had died from variant CJD since 1990.