THE parents of the murdered teenager Jimmy Mizen joined his classmates for a special mass yesterday on what would have been his last full day at school.
His mother Margaret said his family were experiencing shock, horror and pain following his death. Jimmy, who was 16 on Friday, was attacked by a man in a baker's shop in Lee, south-east London, on Saturday. He bled to death in his brother's arms.
Yesterday, he should have been attending a leavers' mass at the St Thomas More Catholic Comprehensive in Eltham. Instead, his family joined tearful pupils at the service.
Earlier, Mrs Mizen, 55, said: "It's all so unreal – shock, horror, pain, joy if that sounds really silly – we just keep thinking about Jimmy and laughing. We've got so much joy about Jimmy.
We had him for 16 years and one day and he brought joy every day of his life."
Speaking about the parents of her son's attacker after the mass, Mrs Mizen said: "What can you really say to them? You can imagine, that's their child, they held that boy in their own arms as a baby. They must be in pain. It's so painful that their child has been so cruel and so wicked."
Mrs Mizen said she was drawing comfort from the fact that one of her sons cradled Jimmy as he lay dying.
She said: "That brings comfort to me, that my son was there when he was dying and he wasn't on his own."
She said Jimmy's many friends had been left distressed by his death. "They are just crying with us, they are in shock. They are young and just need love and comfort. I just can't believe I am talking about my son because he's dead."
Police were yesterday still interviewing a "significant witness" – a man who was said to have seen a key part of the attack on the teenager.
The full article contains 325 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
