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A son's ultimate sacrifice

Chris was defending my honour, but at what price?


Published by: Mark Christy and Jean Jollands
Published on: 17 January 2013

Right on cue, my mobile rang at 7.50am. ‘Morning, Mother!' my son Chris chuckled. ‘Put the bacon on, I'm coming round for my brekkie.'
He rang the same time every day to ask me to start his sarnie. It was cheeky, but I loved it. ‘Okay,' I laughed, popping on my slippers.
Chris was the youngest of my three boys. Me and his dad Jim had broken up when he was six months old. So, once his brothers left home, it was just me and Chris. He did everything he could for me when I was diagnosed with arthritis - my shopping, the housework and the decorating.
Even though he had loads of mates, he was just as happy staying in with his mum and eating his favourite pie and chips while watching Top Gear. When he finally moved out, I'd felt completely heartbroken.
‘Don't fret, I'll be round all the time,' he promised. True to his word, two years on, he still popped in to check on me every single day.
Just then, my Irish wolfhound Tessa heard a van parking up outside and ran to the door.
‘You know it's him, don't you?' I smiled. Chris was a delivery driver and whenever he parked up, she'd go crazy.
‘Hello, Mother!' Chris grinned. He hugged me and then gave Tessa a peck on the nose.
Watching my 6ft 1in gentle giant of a son, I remembered the day we bought Tessa a few years before. We'd gone to buy a carpet, but Chris insisted we pop into a pet shop on the way there. He clocked Tessa, then a six-week-old puppy.
‘We have to get her!' he said. So we brought Tessa home with us. Ever since then, they'd been inseparable. But, as Chris sat down and got stuck into his breakfast, his face grew serious.
‘How's it going with him upstairs?' he asked, anxiously.
Things had been tense with my neighbour Clancy McKay ever since Chris and me had moved into the maisonette three years before. We'd constantly complained about Clancy playing loud music at all hours and noise from his visitors. One time, I'd moaned about the noise in the middle of the night and a girl in Clancy's flat had threatened to knock my lights out. I'd moved into the ground floor flat because it was easier with my arthritis, but now I hated it.
‘The lack of sleep is making my arthritis worse,' I sighed to Chris.
‘Oh, I remember that!' he nodded to me. ‘Having to get up for work at 5.30am on barely any kip!'
He took my hand. ‘I hate you having to live like this,' he said, sadly. Whenever I'd had words with Clancy before, I often rang Chris in a state and he'd rush round to check if I was okay. I'd lost count of the times he'd gone up to speak to Clancy. But seeing his helplessness now, I quickly changed the subject.
‘You going on your bike after work?' I asked, clearing away his plate. He nodded. A mad BMX fan, Chris knew all the stunts and tricks. ‘Remember that Christmas when you were five and I got you your first bike?' I smiled.
‘It took you three days to let me go out on it!' he smiled. But still he seemed distant and
I knew he was still thinking about the trouble with Clancy.
And there was no let up. One night, a few days later, I tossed and turned as the dull beat of dance music, from Clancy's flat, vibrated across my ceiling. Despairing, I went upstairs and knocked on his door.
‘Have some consideration!' I fumed. ‘It's gone midnight.'
Around 5ft 2in, Clancy stared at me like I was the crazy one.
‘I can play my music whenever I want!' he sneered.
Over the next few years, we taped the noise levels and contacted our housing association, the council and the police to complain. But nothing changed.
Soon, I was only leaving the house between 8am and 3.30pm when Clancy was out, just to avoid a confrontation.
But seeing Chris made me forget my troubles. He seemed even cheerier than usual when he called me up for a chat one morning.
‘Are you in tonight?' he asked. ‘I want to bring my new girlfriend to meet you.'
‘Oh yeah?' I giggled. He'd been in a long-term relationship a while back but there had been nothing serious since.
‘And, Mother...' he added, nervously, ‘If you don't like her, don't say anything until she's left the house!'
But luckily I loved Terri when she came over.
‘The reason I like her so much is because she reminds me of you,' Chris told me.
Over the next few weeks, they got closer. I wasn't surprised when, at Christmas, Chris told me they were getting engaged.
Despite the good news, I was still plagued with noise from Clancy upstairs. That night, I buried my head under the pillow, desperate for sleep.
But, three months later, Clancy was all forgotten when Chris phoned me.
‘Are you sitting down?' he asked. ‘You're going to be a grandmother!' he whooped.
My first grandchild! I was so happy.
And when he popped round next, we talked about nothing else. ‘I even stood up at work and shouted out "I'm going to be a dad!"' Chris giggled. I don't think I'd seen him happier.
Just four weeks after they'd announced the news, Terri and Chris came around to mine for dinner.
After Terri left to go home, Chris stayed on.
His mates Kevin Millward, 26, and Dave Power, 25, came round and the three of them were going for a drink to celebrate the good news.
At the end of the night, Chris and Dave were coming back to sleep at mine.
The next morning, I was woken by Tessa nuzzling me awake at about 6.30am.
‘What is it, girl?' I murmured.
Just then, I heard screaming, then the sound of Clancy's back door being broken down. Shocked, I stared out of my window to see the place swarming with riot police.
‘What's going on there?' I wondered, horrified. But just 10 minutes later, two police officers knocked at the door.
‘We need to speak to you about your son Christopher,' one of them began.
Christopher? I'd assumed he was in his bedroom sleeping.
Turned out Dave had left Chris and Kevin drinking in the early hours and come back to ours to crash out. Now he sat by my side, as I listened terrified.
‘I'm sorry,' an officer began. ‘Chris has been stabbed to death.'
No. God, Please... I could see the policeman's lips moving, but I couldn't make sense of it.
I grabbed a picture of Chris off the side. ‘It's not this lad. He's got a baby on the way. He's going to be a dad...' But they both just sadly nodded.
Kevin had been stabbed seven times, too, and he was recovering in hospital.
With my heart breaking into a thousand pieces, I stared at the picture of my boy. Why him? He was just 25...
I'd barely taken in the other details, but I just knew, with all my heart, that Chris had been murdered because of the feud with Clancy.
I was too broken, so it was Dave who broke the news to Terri.
Just hours later, still dazed, I opened the door to her and we fell into each other's arms.
‘He'll never meet his baby,' she sobbed to me.
I'm not sure how I coped as the terrible events of that night were unravelled. Chris and Kevin had been drinking at The Ship pub in Croydon when Chris had spotted my neighbour Clancy.
Enraged, Chris had confronted Clancy and, as a row broke out, punched him to the floor. At that moment, Clancy's brother Carlton McKay had turned up outside the pub.
‘Carlton stabbed Chris 14 times and then stabbed Kevin seven times,' an officer explained to me.
Chris had died from multiple stab wounds to the heart.
I thought back to all the times I'd complained to Carlton about his brother's music. He was often at Clancy's flat, but was just as rude and dismissive as Clancy.
I had to say one last goodbye to Chris. But, at the hospital mortuary, I gasped when I saw him. The left side of his mouth was twisted and his face was bruised. He was covered up to his neck in a sheet so that his injuries were hidden.
‘It's all right, baby,' I sobbed. ‘Mum's here. I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you.'
I thought back to all those scrapes he'd had as a kid on his BMX. I'd always been able to put a plaster on his knee or give him a hug. But I couldn't make this better.
‘I love you,' I whispered, kissing him goodbye.
Just weeks after Chris died, Terri phoned, heartbroken after her 12-week scan. ‘They said
I'm pregnant with twins,' she sobbed. ‘But one of them has died due to all the stress.'
‘One's for Chris, one's for you,' I whispered. But how much more could we take?
I don't know how we got through Chris' funeral. I got special permission to take Tessa into the funeral service. I walked her along behind Chris' coffin as they carried it in. When we threw white roses on top of it, she whined helplessly.
Not long after, Terri called again with news of her 20-week scan.
‘It's a boy,' she said down the line. I was so happy.
The thought of that little mite kept me going when, in November, Carlton McKay, 27, pleaded guilty to murdering Chris and then attempting to murder Kevin.
As he stood in the dock, he looked at me with a cocky sneer. The court read my victim impact statement about Chris.
‘I often see his face and I am scared that I will forget what he looks like. I have lost my son and unborn grandchild. My heart has been broken into little pieces.'
Tears filled my eyes as my words rang out, every one of them true. McKay was jailed for life - serving a minimum of 27 years.
After sentencing him, Judge Brian Barker said, ‘It's been devastating for both families. This has been a terrible waste of life.'
Just days later, Terri gave birth to baby William, an 8lb 3oz healthy bundle. My heart leapt as I held him in my arms.
‘His top lip curls up just the way his dad's used to,' I said, through my tears.‘Your daddy loves you so much.'
William is just two months old now. I'm collecting photos of Chris for him in a special folder. One day, I'll also give him the silver chain that his daddy bought with his very first wage packet.
Chris' friends have vowed to go cycling on their bikes every year on his birthday to remember him.
Every time a van parks outside, Tessa still jumps up excitedly, thinking that Chris is going to walk through the door again.
I still live in the same house. However, I'm pleased to say that Clancy was moved to another property while his brother was awaiting trial. I've finally got what I wanted, but at what price?
Jane Isted, 58, Croydon, south London