‘IT’S BEEN ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS... IT’S LIKE LIVING IN A HORROR STORY’
Mum’s heartache for son who ‘wouldn’t harm a fly’
THE heartbroken mum of a man who died after he was detained by two mechanics in a citizen’s arrest has spoken for the first time about the family’s devastating loss.
Christopher Walters, below, was 25 when he died at the Royal Stoke University Hospital in May 2019.
Yesterday, Stoke-on-trent mechanic Benjamin Hunt, was jailed for 38 months after pleading guilty to his manslaughter. His co-accused was found hanged just days before the start of his manslaughter trial.
Mr Walters’ mother Dawn Price says her son’s death has devastated her family. The 58-year-old, of Bentilee, says she also doesn’t understand why it took the police so long to arrive.
Mrs Price, who has now lost three children, said: “I feel like I have been robbed of my son. My life has never been the same. It’s been almost a two year long ordeal to get to this point and I don’t feel like I’ve been able to put my son to rest while we have been waiting for justice.
“I had to wait five months before his body could be released from the morgue. He died in May 2019 and we couldn’t have his funeral until the September. My son’s body lay in a morgue for five months. It’s just been absolutely horrendous, it’s like I’m living in a horror story.”
The court heard Mr Walters was detained after he had armed himself with a hammer and damaged a vehicle. But Mrs Price says her son left in a happy mood that day and ‘wouldn’t harm a fly’.
She said: “I stepped out on the front to say goodbye to him and he told me to have a good day and that he would see me later. But I never saw him again. He had a passion for Ford cars and he left that morning to go and do a bit of work on one of his cars.
“I was woken up by CID at 11.40pm. My body went into shock, I just didn’t want to believe that my son had gone. It’s been nearly two years and I still can’t believe he’s gone.
“Chris wouldn’t harm a fly and it’s not just me who says that. I’ll never get the answers as to why he smashed that car window. It wasn’t in his character to do that.”
Mrs Price says she also doesn’t understand why it took police about 20 minutes to arrive at the scene of the incident where her son died, when Longton Police Station is less than a five minute walk away.
She said: “But when the police didn’t arrive, why didn’t they just let my son get up?
“The police would have found him, my son would be alive and they could have charged him with criminal damage. A car window can be replaced, a life can’t.”
Mrs Price says she misses her son ‘tremendously’. He had completed a brick-laying course after leaving school, but went on to train as a mechanic and worked at JCB for two years.
Mrs Price said: “He was like my shadow. He was always there for me. He was such a lovely lad and I feel like a lost soul without him. We were so close, people even used to mistake me for being his sister.
“He was such a character. He had a heart of gold and would do anything for anybody.
“I was so proud of him. I’ve been fighting for justice for my son, he wouldn’t want me to crumble and that’s what I want justice.”