The mum of murdered Speke teenager Kelsey Shaw says she will remember her “little china-doll” as always laughing, always smiling, after her killer was locked up for life.
Pat Shaw, 52, suffered the triple hammer-blow of losing her 17-year-old daughter, her own mum eight days later, and then being diagnosed with cancer in one horrendous year.
Mrs Shaw, of Hale Drive, Speke, spoke to the Echo after remorseless drug dealer and burglar Callum Wilcocks, now 23, was convicted and jailed for a minimum of 16 years after a seven day retrial at Liverpool Crown Court.
She says Wilcocks was responsible for the loss of her mum and Kelsey’s grandmother Chrissy Shaw, 82, who Mrs Shaw believes died of a broken heart in June 2011.
She said: “Kelsey was my little china-doll. She loved hair and make up, and for a little girl she was very loud. She was so full of life, and always had a smile on her face.”
Mrs Shaw, of Hale Drive in Speke, says one thing pushed her through that punishing year: her newly orphaned three-year-old granddaughter Caitlin, who is now in her care.
“When I look at her I just see Kelsey,” she said. “Caitlin always talks about her mum, she looks at the sky and says there’s mummy and there’s nanny.”
Mrs Shaw was forced to make the heartbreaking decision to turn off Kelsey’s life support machine at Whiston Hospital on April 30, 2011, after Wilcocks brutally strangled her in an arm-lock before using his hand to throttle her, while she lay defenceless and unconscious on the floor.
With contempt in her eyes, Mrs Shaw described Wilcocks as a “sewer rat” and claimed Kelsey had suffered at his hands before.
She said: “He did anything and everything. The relationship was very, very volatile. A week after Caitlin was born he (Wilcocks) broke Kelsey’s nose. She went to hospital and I reported it to the police, but Kelsey never followed it up.
“But we never thought anything like this would happen. She was not even with him when this happened.”
But speaking of Kelsey’s strength, Mrs Shaw says she returned to school after giving birth to Caitlin aged only 14.
“She passed her GCSEs, she knew she had to get a good education to give her daughter a better life.”
Kelsey, who planned on becoming a hairdresser, was a popular figure at her high school, St Julie’s in Woolton.
After her death, Mrs Shaw says Kelsey’s friends grouped together to form the support group Beat Abuse, aimed specifically at youths struggling in abusive relationships.
Mrs Shaw said: “There’s nothing for minors. All the support is for adults when it comes to domestic violence. Beat Abuse go around schools and give advice and support. It’s in Kelsey’s memory.”
She said she is happy with Wilcocks’ sentence and hopes the family can now move on.
During the trial prosecution counsel Simon Medland, QC, claimed Wilcocks cynically exaggerated the symptoms of a personality disorder to try and get his conviction over-turned in favour of a more lenient manslaughter charge.
His actions forced Kelsey’s family to endure another full trial, after he was originally found guilty in 2011.
Mrs Shaw said: “Hopefully that’s the end of our nightmare, you know he’s just put us through so much.”
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/