COPS TOLD GRIEVING MUM TO I was forced to relive Lee’s last moments... it was like he’d been murdered all over again
THE mum of murdered soldier Lee Rigby claims she was threatened with arrest for refusing to attend the court hearing of an online stalker.
Grieving Lyn Rigby was told she would be prosecuted if she did not a give evidence at the appeal of a sick fantasist who claims Lee’s barbaric killing was all a hoax.
And over a four- day hearing this week Lyn, 49, was forced to relive harrowing details of her son’s murder and listen to fake accusations that he was a rapist.
At one point the heartbroken mumof-five was shown a giant photo of one of Lee’s killers, Michael Adebolajo, clutching a meat cleaver and covered in her son’s blood.
The horrific image was captured moments after Muslim fanatic Adebolajo butchered the 25-year-old Royal Fusilier to death in 2013.
Campaigners last night branded Lyn’s treatment outrageous and called for a law to stop grieving families being forced to attend court.
Lyn told the Sunday People: “This has been one of the worst weeks since Lee died and it brought all the terrible emotions flooding back to me as if my son had been murdered all over again.
Sick
“I believe in our justice system because it put Lee’s killers behind bars but I don’t believe we should have been forced to court for this man.
“And to threaten us with prosecution if we didn’t attend was just absurd and shocking as well as deeply upsetting. It suggests that my grieving family has somehow done something wrong.”
Lyn, of Middleton, Manchester, and her daughter Sara, 27, were the victims of Christopher Spivey’s s i ck harassment.
But this week Lyn was grilled in a court for more than an hour and sobbed throughout Spivey’s appeal hearing as she was forced to listen to lies about her murdered son.
Defence lawyers representing deluded Spivey, 54, even asked Lyn how she felt about t he blood- soaked image of Adebolajo.
Lyn t old t he Sunday People: “I was trembling from head to foot , I was that scared. I thought I was going to pass out. I couldn’t even speakspea when they held up the photo of Lee’s killer covered in my boy’s bl blood. “I just cried and crie cried and cried and even the court staff were visibly upset and distressed. “How was I supposedsuppos to react? How do they think I feel about seeing a photo of a ma man holding a butcher’s knife covered in the blood of my murdered son? “I just don’t know how this was ever allowed to h happen. “The whole thing was spiteful, nas nasty and cruel and f or n no reason whatsoever whatsoever. “This patheticp man has no r relevance to Lee or my family and ye yet he is craving at attention over my so son’s murder. Its be beyond belief. “I didn’t want to g go to court and when I told the police this the they replied me and my that daughter Sara would be arrested and prosecuted if we failed to turn up.
“How was this allowed to happen? We’d already delivered written witness statements the first time round but on his appeal they demanded we appear in court to be questioned over and over.
“I was terrified and felt sick to the stomach. The judge had to halt the hearing several times because it was so aggressive and upsetting for me.
“It’s horrific enough losing my son in such a violent way but to listen to this man’s twisted drivel was just heaping more misery on me.
Harrowing
“He published my address and photos of my house online and we were literally terrified to go out and were constantly in fear of being attacked by lunatics.”
Lyn and Sara both gave their evidence via video link from Bury magistrates court during the four-day hearing at Chelmsford crown court, Essex.
Defendants who appeal at a crown court can present their entire case again and examine all the evidence.
It meant that Lyn, who has built up a good relationship with Greater Manchester Police since her son’s murder, was reluctantly told by officers they would have to arrest her if she did not take part in Spivey’s appeal.
Dave Hines, founder of the National Victims’ Association, criticised Lyn’s treatment and blasted ministers for failing to protect those affected by crime.
Mr Hines, whose daughter, Marie, 22, was murdered in her home by a former partner, said: “The Government and the e Ministry of Justice claim they putut victims at the heart of the justice ce system but that’s a lie.
“There should be a Victims’ Law which would stop those affected ed by serious crime having to go throughh the trauma of appearing in court.
“I feel for Mrs Rigby and the horrendous ordeal she has had too go through. It’s beyond comprehension,sion, it’s completely outrageous and the public will be shocked.
“Families like this are let downn by the system.”
Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies,dies,