MATTHEW Pyke's mother said her son's brutal murder had “totally devastated” their family.

Jonathan Barnes

MATTHEW Pyke's mother said her son's brutal murder had “totally devastated” their family.

Kim Pyke, from Stowmarket, said she felt her son had been “stolen” from her and the family would be asking “why Matthew?” for the rest of their lives.

“As the months have passed, it's a strange feeling. Because Matthew was away in Nottingham, it's easy to fool yourself that he's still alive and everything's okay,” she said.

“It only really sinks in when we have special occasions and celebrations, like birthdays, Easter, Christmas, and Matthew's not there.

“It makes you feel like you don't want to bother celebrating because it's just not the same, but we try to stay strong for the sake of the younger members of the family.

“I sometimes think 'what is the point of it all?' as things will never be normal again.”

She said the moment a police officer turned up on their doorstep, on September 19 last year, to tell them Matthew had been murdered was “the worst moment of my life”.

“It was the thing that no parent ever wants to hear. I was totally devastated and kept thinking that anytime soon somebody would tell me that it wasn't true.

“I felt numb and sick to the stomach. I just didn't know what to do. I kept crying until I had no more tears to shed, and then just sat there in a daze. I went through every emotion in the book.

“Until that knock on the door, we were a completely normal family. That moment has changed our lives forever. The days that followed were just a blur for us all. They were empty and meaningless. We cried until we could cry no more. We still do. We kept expecting Matthew to walk through the door give us that cheeky grin and everything would get back to normal. But we were living a dream. This was never going to happen.”

She added: “We have tried to remain calm and dignified over the months since Matthew's death. We've had good days and bad days and been through every emotion. There will always be a massive part of our family missing and not a day goes by without thinking about Matthew and what might have been.

We look back and know that there was nothing that we could have done to stop this tragedy from happening, but the question will always remain with us - 'Why Matthew?'”