HE WAS A GREAT KID AND I NEVER GOT THE CHANCE TO TELL HIM

And although the 31-year-old killer will now spend years behind bars, the Kensett family feel their life stopped the day Jay died.

Jay's mother, Kim, and dad, John, tell Rebecca Burgess, left, how the death of their son has devastated their close-knit family.

HUNDREDS of family and friends flocked to support the bereaved Kensett family when 16-year-old Jay was stabbed to death in the street last March.

But in the aftermath of the court case when his killer Darren Mateer was sent down for life, 39-year-old mum Kim and 40-year-old dad John are left to pick up the pieces alone.

The family had only moved from Portslade to their home in Pulborough Way, Whitehawk, 11 months before Jay's death so he could be near his school friends and his fiance Cassie.

They found the support of the community overwhelming after the murder and were comforted to some extent by the hundreds of letters they received which were full of love for popular Jay.

But nothing can mend the grief which has devastated them and Jay's brothers and sisters, Dean, 20, Ross, 18, Tyrone, 13, and 12-year-old Jade Louise.

Kim said: "Tyrone is devastated, he hasn't been the same since, and Ross hasn't coped with it very well either, he has left the Army."

Tyrone idolised his elder brother with whom he used to share a room and has left Jay's clothes hanging in the wardrobe and his hat in the bedroom where Jay last put it down.

The 13-year-old rarely leaves his parents' side and has only been able to return to school in the mornings.

Proud

Every Friday Kim and Tyrone take flowers to the tree in Whitehawk Way where Jay died and Kim visits the cemetery each day to be close to her son.

She said: "I light a candle but that's all I have got left now. When we should be buying presents for his birthdays and Christmas we are buying him flowers."

She added: "We saw what every parent should never have to see - we saw our child die in the street.

"I truly believe if I had only had one child then I wouldn't still be here but there are the other children to think about.

"We stay in the same day every day and it doesn't go away. They say time is a great healer but it's a load of rubbish, it doesn't change.

"Jay was a victim and I believe we are victims because we are left to pick up the pieces."

John has been unable to return to work since the night he watched his son die in his arms.

He said: "It affects you and you can't find the motivation, but hopefully I will find it because I can't support my family unless I am working."

The couple say they now feel isolated in their grief, as people find it difficult to talk to them and try not to talk about Jay.

Kim said: "People round Whitehawk have been very good to us but you end up very lonely because nobody wants to talk to you because they don't know how to cope with it.

"My son was alive for 16 years and people have to understand we want to talk about Jay, he was an important part of our lives.

If somebody mentions Jay to me I'm not going to collapse on them and cry."

The teenager, grown-up beyond his 16 years, was working four days a week for his fiance's father and had secured an apprenticeship with Sussex Wall and Floor Tiling which he was due to start in September.

He spent most of his time with fiance Cassie whom he had planned to marry in February this year. The day he was killed was a rare evening out with friends.

His family are still in touch with Cassie, but say she and her family have also been devastated by the loss and are finding it difficult to come to terms with.

Jay's parents described their son as a normal teenager who didn't drink, hated smoking and loved sport.

But they remember and miss his smile and eyes, which they said would light up any room he was in.

And they were very proud of his sporting achievements, his relationship with Cassie and his forthcoming apprenticeship.

John said: "He had always done the family proud whatever he had done."

Kim added: "He was a good kid and I never got a chance to tell him. That's the only regret and I hope to God he knew how much he meant to us."

Kim said on the night Jay died it was the first time she had allowed him to stay out until midnight.

She had last spoken to him about 10pm when he had phoned to ask if some friends could stay over. But the next time she saw him he was lying in the street after being stabbed in the back by Darren Mateer after Mateer's brother Jonathan got into a fight with Jay.

Kim said: "All he did that night was stick up for his friends because that's the type of person he was. He would never have run away, even though we wish he had. He would always stick up for the little ones and the girls, and I think that's why his friends had a lot of respect for him."

Dad John also strongly believes the law should be stricter for people caught carrying knives.

He said: "The law should be changed and if you are found carrying a knife you should be taken to prison straight away.

"If you are walking the streets with a knife you have gone out with the intention of using it, you take it with you for a reason."

They hope Mateer will have to spend at least 25 to 30 years behind bars before he is released.

John added: "He is a coward, he's not a man."

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