‘Murder was so cold and calculated’
THE PARENTS of Olly Stephens said many families have been destroyed after their son’s murder.
Stuart and Amanda Stephens’ 13-year-old son was stabbed and killed in Emmer Green in January this year.
“You don’t expect your child to leave the house and be dead in 15 minutes,” Mr Stephens said.
“It was so cold and so calculated,” Mrs Stephens added.
Today, two 14-year-old boys have been sentenced to be detained for life with a minimum term of 12 years, 105 days, and 11 years, 105 days imprisonment respectively, after being found guilty of murder. One 14-year-old girl has been sentenced to three years and two months’ imprisonment for her role in Olly’s death, after being found guilty of manslaughter and perverting the course of justice.
On hearing the guilty verdicts, Mr Stephens said he felt like the floor had opened up beneath him.
“It was so surreal,” he said. “You feel like your insides have just fallen out. It’s the only way to describe it. You are dealing with children at the end of the day, but they had murdered our son.
“We’ve lost our son and we’ve already got a life sentence, but it’s the repercussions of those word, and the families involved, and the ripple it will have. There’s no escaping this for the rest of their lives, but they are still alive.”
He added: “There are whole families destroyed in this. One person was the physical victim, but you could easily say there a hundred people affected.”
Mrs Stephens said she knows the parents of the killers “must be living in hell like we are”.
“It’s a complete, utter nightmare,” she said. “Their children have done what they’ve done — this awful thing. It must be hell for them.
“All I felt throughout this whole thing is sadness, there isn’t a feeling of anger towards them – it’s just sadness at the situation that’s been created, and the loss for us and for everybody.”
Mr Stephens said he has no feelings for the teenage killers.
“I personally don’t see them as people any more,” he said. “To me they’re irrelevant. We are in this situation because of them, but they don’t mean anything to me.
“I hold all three of those people equally responsible for what happened to Olly, but there’s no point getting angry, no point chucking mud at them, because that’s what the legal system is for, and we have to have faith in the legal system.”
The couple said they are not dwelling on the conviction appeal, lodged by one of the teenage boys.
“That wasn’t unexpected,” Mr Stephens said. “When you’re in that position you have a legal right to make an appeal, so we were expecting that in a way.”
Mrs Stephens added: “What we wanted was for justice to be done, and justice has been done.”
The couple are still stuck in a “bubble” as the rest of the world moves on, Mr Stephens said.
“It’s hard, because we’re still stuck feeling like it’s just happened,” Mrs Stephens said. “Everything’s moved forward and it’s been very surreal, so we’re still in shock and getting our heads around how life has changed.”
Mr Stephens added: “It’s hard walking past his bedroom. I still expect him to knock on the door, I still see him out of the corner of my eye, walking around the kitchen emptying the cupboards.”
The couple thanked those who have supported them since their son’s death.
Mrs Stephens said: “The list is absolutely huge, from the moment it happened. It’s friends, it’s family, the churches, and it’s been national and international. There are heartfelt words and presents that are sent.
“On social media as well, a lot of people we have lost track of along the way, old school friends and things. We have been so lucky.
“There hasn’t really been much that people can do, but even a message saying ‘thinking of you’, really helps.”
The couple are calling for more mental health support for young people, and an end to knife crime.
Mr Stephens said that students who are less academic do not have a system of support in school.
“I think the school system is set up for A and B students,” he said. “Anyone who falls outside of that box [is] a square peg in a round hole. The system isn’t there to catch you. Not every kid is a scholar.
“Mental health issues are escalating in this country. Kids — 12-year-olds — are getting depressed. What sort of society have we got where a 12-year-old is on antidepressants?
“A few days before he died, I said to Olly, ‘It’s my job to protect you, you need to tell me what’s going on’.
“I just couldn’t get it out of him. ‘Snitches get stitches’ is all he’d say.”
Mr Stephens called on the community to support the Online Harms Bill
“Anyone who objects to that, really has to question their morals, because children are dying,” he said.
He urged people to put their knives down.
“If you’re in a position where you need to carry a knife, you need to question what you’re doing,”he said. “A lot of these kids are vulnerable, they’re scared.
“There’s a massive issue of kids being groomed and led down a path by older people. They want these kids to carry out tasks that they don’t want to get caught for. It is child abuse.”
Mrs Stephens called for more support for teenagers who carry weapons.
“Once they do the right thing and hand over the knife, they need help to get onto the right track and move on,” she said.
She urged parents to have more conversations with their children.
“Keep asking questions, be suspicious, try not to be put off,” Mrs Stephens said. “You get batted away by your children when you ask questions [and] you don’t get answers.
“Just keep going until you feel comfortable and trust your gut reactions as well.
“If you don’t like the sound of [their] friends, there probably is a very good reason. It’s very hard because we can look back and say, as parents, we did our best, loved him to bits, and always tried to be there for him and talk to him.”