‘My son was hacked to death by machete thug... I’ll always be broken and bitter’
MUM’S AGONY TWO YEARS ON...AND HER BATTLE TO STOP
but as I got close I just saw this huge pool of blood running down the road from our driveway.”
Suzanne and her mum rushed to be by Ricky’s side at The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London.
Doctors asked her for permission to amputate his leg – it was their only chance of saving his life.
She said: “The wound was so deep, it was 16cm, caused by a huge, machetelike knife.
“Of course I said yes. I just wanted him alive. But I kept thinking, ‘What the hell is he going to do with just one leg?’
“He was such an active guy. He had two jobs. My son was a fit and healthy young man. At no point did I ever think that I’d walk out of there without him.
“It never occurred to me that he might die. It simply didn’t cross my mind.
“After the operation Ricky was still critical and we couldn’t see him. The wait was pure torture.
“When we were finally allowed to it was amazing. He looked like my son. He had no visual marks on his face.
“He looked like Ricky, just asleep. But I never got to see my boy conscious again.
“When I went to hold his hand I noticed he had slices all over his hands and the tips of his fingers and some toes on his remaining leg were missing.
“They were clearly defensive wounds and it broke my heart to think of what he went through trying to save himself from that knife.”
After a matter of hours Suzanne was told to gather the family together as there was nothing more the doctors could do. She watched Ricky fight for life for four minutes and 11 seconds after his life support machine was switched off.
Now she is unable to return to the house. She explained: “I’ve not been back there since, even though there is a lovely memorial bench that his friends donated.
“I just can’t bear seeing the place where, in my eyes, he lost his life. I relive the night it happened constantly. My son was taken away from me.
“He had no choice in that and neither did I – and that’s still what I find hardest to deal with.”
She has now released a last, haunting photo of her beloved son. Despite wanting to keep Ricky’s final moments private, Suzanne decided to share a photo taken at his hospital death bed to highlight the catastrophic effects of knife crime.
The former teaching assistant said: “Two years later it’s still affecting us just as badly as the day it happened.
“I’m on anti-depressants, sleeping pills and have had to give up my job, home and totally lost all confidence in myself.”
Two men were arrested and tried at the Old Bailey over Ricky’s death.
One was found not guilty, but the second – Tommy Roome, 20 – was convicted of manslaughter and jailed for 14 years.
Suzanne feels the sentence was “grossly unfair” considering the seriousness of the crime. And as part of her campaign against knife crime she is holding demonstrations, speaking at community meetings and lobbying shops to ask them to be more responsible when selling knives.
She said: “People say if kids want to carry knives they’ll get their hands on them at home or any way possible, but I think it’s important to make it as hard as possible for them to buy them.
“We’ve been working with companies like Wilko, Poundland, Sainsbury’s and trying to educate them about safer ways they can stock these products.
“Even with 1,000 more police on the streets, as parents we have to help and be responsible.” Suzanne is now planning to go into schools to speak