Mark was amazing, so – he never ever had a
FAMILY’S TRIBUTE TO MURDER VICTIM
Court Reporter MURDER victim Mark Shaw’s family has paid tribute to their “amazing” boy - and revealed he has a daughter who will tragically never know him after his girlfriend fell pregnant just before he was killed.
As evil killers Zoe Warren and Keiran Adey were jailed for life, Mark’s mum, dad and sisters spoke of their grief, sadness and anger.
They also revealed that the 29-yearold was not in a relationship with Warren - as the manipulative liar had claimed - and that his real girlfriend was two weeks pregnant when he died, although they had no idea about it at the time.
Now the little girl will grow up unable to know her dad because of the cruel brutality of Warren and Adey.
Mark was murdered over a few quid in a merciless and sustained attack in his home, during which he was tied up, gagged, beaten, bitten and stabbed.
Mum Valerie Watson, dad Stephen Shaw and older sisters Micheala Holmes and Haley Richardson revealed they did not realise how badly Mark had been injured until hearing the gruesome details in court – and the shock caused them to collapse.
Mrs Watson, 56, of Great Lumley, County Durham, said: “Mark was amazing, so funny and kind and very loyal.
“He never ever had a fight in his life because he was a peacemaker. He tried everything to keep the peace.
“All his life he has never said a bad word about anyone.
“He called himself Merlin Mark because he did magic tricks to make the kids laugh.
“He was funny and made everyone laugh. Everyone wanted to be Mark’s friend because he was so lovely.”
She added: “He would even have forgiven these (Warren and Adey) if he had lived and would made sure there was nothing done to them.
“We didn’t know how bad it was before the court case, we only got told some of it.
“We knew he had been stabbed and hit and tied up but we didn’t know how many injuries there were.
“It was horrific to hear about the injuries. We collapsed.
“All this happened over a fiver when I had even offered to pay it.
“They have shown no remorse. We just want karma.”
The family revealed Mark’s girlfriend was a couple of weeks pregnant when he died but neither she nor Mark, who also leaves behind a 12-year-old son, knew at the time.
Mark’s dad said Warren and Adey were worse than animals for the heinous way they had treated his boy and that he hates them.
Mr Shaw, 54, said: “The only thing that has kept me going is hatred but hate is not a strong enough word.
“As far as I’m concerned when an animal is like that it gets put down.”
On Mark, he added: “He was 29 and I can honestly say he had the time of his life. He was taking the scenic route through life.”
Sister, Haley, 35, added: “He was always trying to make people laugh, especially the kids.
“There were 600 people at his funeral. He was loved and not one person has had a bad word to say about him.”
Mark’s other sister, Micheala Holmes, 39, added: “All the kids are saying what are we going to do without uncle Mark. He was the life and soul of the party and would do anything to help anyone and would help old people across the road.”
She said Mark’s real friends were in the family’s home village of Great Lumley, County Durham. and he got in with the wrong crowd after moving to Grange Villa.
The family added that they wanted to thank all the people who had supported them through their ordeal.
Warren, 20, of Chipchase, Washington and Adey, 29, of Queen Street, Grange Villa, were convicted of murder and Warren was also found guilty of witness intimidation. Both must serve at least 17 years of their life sentences. Each had a string of previous convictions.