“My world collapsed” – mum’s heartbreak after son fatally stabbed in Derbyshire town

Byron Griffin had left with a friend for Ilkeston on July 4 2021. It was a hot summer afternoon, England’s European Championship was in full swing and his Mum, Zoe Cooke, had spoken to him as he was leaving.

The conversation was like any other, with Byron asking Zoe if she was cooking, and him saying he was planning to come back for dinner.

Little did Zoe know that this would be the last time she would speak to her ‘funny, loving and really, really cheeky’ son.

A couple of hours later, she received the phone call no parent ever wants to receive. A street fight had broken out and Byron had been attacked with a knife.

He was found by medics in Eyres Garden with two stab wounds, fighting for his life.

Zoe received a call from the wife of Byron’s friend, and immediately went to the Queen’s Medical Centre.

She said: “I can just remember them bringing him out the ambulance, his eyes were rolled to the back of his head, and he was totally cut open from where they’d given him open heart surgery on the scene.

“I didn’t know at this time he’d already passed in the air ambulance, but they were trying to give him blood and bring him back round.

“The lady at the hospital came back out to us and said ‘I’m sorry, we had the best team working on him’ and I said ‘he’s dead isn’t he?’ and she said ‘yes’.

“My world just collapsed. We went back to my Mum’s and we just sat there, not even talking, just in shock.”

Zoe said that her grief comes in waves – and that Byron’s death had been especially hard on her daughter.

“Straight away after I think you go into autopilot, it’s as if you’re in disbelief. I don’t think I believed it for a while and even sometimes now I don’t believe it and I still think he’s going to walk through the door. Then I’ll just have evenings where I look at his picture and go into hysterics of crying just thinking ‘oh my god, he’s actually not coming back’.

“Then you get all the ripple effects, like my little daughter. I thought she was handling it really really well and, with her being young I check her phone, she knows I check her phone. I found voice messages to her brother of her sobbing going ‘please come home Byron I don’t want you to be in heaven I want you to come home.’”

The group of men that were responsible for Byron’s death have all been sentenced to life in prison.

Jordan Fairbrother, now 27, of Nelson Street, Swadlincote, is serving a minimum of 27-and-a-half years.

Grant Masterson, now 31, of Great Northern Close, Ilkeston, is serving at least 26 years in prison.

Dylan Geary, now 23, of Great Northern Close, Ilkeston, is serving at least 25 years in prison.

Daniel Lewsley, now 34, also of Great Northern Close, was given another 25-year minimum tariff.

READ THIS: Derbyshire offenders in court: Chesterfield, Alfreton, Ilkeston and Derby

Zoe is now using her experience to educate young people and parents, as well as campaigning for resources like emergency bleed kits and safe places for young people in Byron’s name. She hopes that telling her story as part of Operation Sceptre, a national week of anti-knife crime action which runs from May 15 – 21, will make people think twice about their friends and before picking up a knife.

She added: “All four of these men’s lives are wasted now and they all got very long sentences which I think a lot of young people don’t realise. You don’t just have to be the person that’s stabbed someone to get a long sentence, you can just be involved.

“Byron could have taken that choice to just run. A lot of people nowadays don’t want to be that person and would rather stand up for themselves, but I’d always advise people to that because he could have still been here if he had.

“Byron did have two sets of friends, good and bad, both could have led him down different paths and he was torn between the devil and the deep blue sea.”

“He always used to say ‘Mum, you’re always lecturing me’ but as a parent that’s all you can do. Never think you’re lecturing them too much because you do know what’s best for them.”