- 26/03/2024
Bodmin Murder: The family of Michael Riddiough-Allen talk about the person they lost, the MIKES Trust and their thoughts on the verdict in their first sit-down interview since the end of the trial.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 So firstly, tell us a bit about Mike as a person, your brother, your son and your friend.
00:06 Can we use Phil Jones's?
00:08 No.
00:09 You can't. You can't call him cantankerous and exasperating but not a bad bone in his body.
00:15 Absolutely, yeah.
00:16 It's how a very, very close friend of Mike's described him.
00:21 And actually he's sort of somewhat nailed it.
00:24 But yeah, Becky, go on.
00:26 Well, I mean, Mike I grew up with.
00:30 Michael and I, we were brought up by my grandparents.
00:32 We spent weekdays with my grandparents, weekends with my nan.
00:35 Wherever we went, we were together.
00:38 So for me and him, we were two sides of one coin, so to speak.
00:43 You know, he was my constant.
00:48 And, you know, as children, obviously, siblings, they're not...
00:52 You have your fights and whatever.
00:54 But as we grew up, we still had each other.
00:58 And that support that we gave each other was just invaluable.
01:02 And he's my best friend.
01:09 Yeah.
01:11 He was the one that I would phone if things got tough.
01:14 He was... I was one he would phone when things got tough.
01:17 So more phone calls from his side then?
01:20 Yeah.
01:22 I mean, Mike, as he grew into adulthood, wasn't without his demons.
01:29 You know, he struggled with an element of depression.
01:33 There were times when you'd have a conversation with Mike and he'd go,
01:36 "Oh, nothing's going right."
01:38 And you say, "Well, what can we sort out? Let's sort out this."
01:41 "Oh, I can't sort out this because of this.
01:43 And I can't sort out that because of that.
01:45 And I can't sort out that because of that."
01:47 And he'd drive himself down.
01:49 And eventually someone, either a friend or family or himself,
01:55 would find a way to pull him out of that.
01:57 And I have to say...
01:59 Recent years, it's so much better.
02:01 Yeah, it sounds like a crazy thing to say.
02:04 And all the while, Mike was feeling down on the world.
02:07 He was never anything other than a wonderful person.
02:10 And actually, you speak to all his friends and we know that the things he went through
02:15 in the background and how he was struggling,
02:18 I bet none-- well, bar three, maybe four of his really close friends,
02:23 none of them would have known about it because the rest of them
02:26 would just have seen an incredibly generous, giving person,
02:32 always there, always had time.
02:34 Someone would pick up the phone, "Oh, can I have a hand with this?"
02:38 Or, "Let's go to the pub. Let's have a chat."
02:41 "Oh, next time we walk with dogs, can we go together?"
02:44 That sort of thing.
02:45 He'd have always been there, even though we'd have known in the background
02:48 that he was fighting some of his own things.
02:52 And he would always be there with a massive, great big grin on his face,
02:56 acting like an absolute muppet.
02:59 Smelling of pasty.
03:00 Trying to make me embarrassed all the time with the daddy dance.
03:03 You three, every chance you would get, would try and embarrass me with the daddy dance.
03:08 So yeah, he had his demons, but he dealt with them well.
03:12 He was there, like, at our funeral years ago,
03:15 that I was thinking an absolute nervous bucket wreck,
03:17 and I did not expect him to turn up, and his face just popped up in the kitchen window.
03:21 Big, goofy grin, and that just took my worries away.
03:25 During some of the hardest days of my life, even though I didn't call him,
03:30 Dad passed on a message of me losing a little one.
03:32 And he rang me. He was there. He said, "How can I help you? What can I do?"
03:37 There was nothing he could do, but that phone call just made it all so much better.
03:41 He was just…
03:42 He was very giving in his own way.
03:44 Very giving.
03:45 He always found somewhere to draw that reserve from.
03:49 And as I say, even when his reserves were low, personally, and we know his reserves were low,
03:55 he'd somehow still find immeasurable time and patience for other people,
04:02 which speaks great volumes about him.
04:06 One of the nicest things for us as a family is the last 12 months of his life,
04:13 I'd say, were probably the best.
04:17 He was the happiest he had been.
04:19 He was back surfing, back playing rugby, losing weight, getting involved.
04:24 You know on Michael's Good, when he rings you up randomly just to have a chat,
04:31 just a random weird chat that I didn't…
04:35 Nine times out of ten, I didn't even know what he was ringing for.
04:38 He just wanted to talk.
04:40 He just wanted to talk. And you knew that's when he's good, because he was ringing just to be sexual.
04:44 And joining us on the family activities with the little ones,
04:47 that you normally would be like, "Oh, you're doing it with the kids."
04:49 Actually, no, I'm going to come. We had a great day playing Crazy Dog.
04:52 We had a great meal that he was on time for, but we still blamed it on the late because we were all early.
04:58 You know, I've seen him more in the last 12 months than I have done over the last few years.
05:02 I know COVID got in the way for some of that, but yeah.
05:05 Yeah, I had less phone calls along the lines of, "Dad, can you stick 20 quid in my account?"
05:10 More along the lines of, "Just phone up and have a chat."
05:14 He had got to a really good place.
05:16 Yeah, and I'm very disappointed that those 20 quids that we've all been giving him over the years,
05:19 where are all our 20 quids? Because if you add them all up, we're over a lot of money here.
05:25 Yeah, and Becky's not bitter about that.
05:27 No, not at all.
05:29 The fact that she found his wage slip, or we all found his wage slips at his house,
05:33 didn't in any way make her more bitter either.
05:36 The fact that he had more money than me was still asking me for money.
05:40 So what was he like as an uncle then? Because obviously I imagine it was an excuse to be goofy with the kids.
05:44 Oh, absolutely. I mean, say my eldest is 10, and she would climb...
05:51 From the age of walking to the age of 10, she would climb him like a climbing frame.
05:57 He would come in, she'd be all over him.
06:01 And her best memories of him are things like she annoyed him one day,
06:06 so he just stuck her on top of the van and wouldn't let her get down.
06:09 It's things like that.
06:12 I got a photo from years ago, and Mike and I took her to go and teach her to surf.
06:17 And she just refused. She would not stand up.
06:21 "I just want to lie down. I just want to lie down. Why do I have to stand up?"
06:24 And we're both there going, "This is the whole point. We're surfing."
06:28 But he would do so much for them.
06:31 Even things like just turning up for birthday parties.
06:34 He'd just stand in the corner.
06:36 Every christening, every birthday, he would turn up.
06:40 And bless our youngest, Sennan and Elowen, really didn't get a chance to know their uncle Mikey.
06:45 And Isabelle, unfortunately, had a fear of Mikey.
06:50 Because she... Michael-Michael looked like Grandad.
06:53 And she would only talk to Grandad when he was out of sight.
06:57 And she was petrified of her dad for some reason.
07:00 And then that went on to Mike.
07:02 But they had a beautiful time playing golf, because Isabelle was rubbish.
07:06 She was absolutely rubbish, wasn't she?
07:08 And he just kept joking with her and Nann going, "No, she's got it in five."
07:13 And Mike's like, "No, she didn't. She got it in ten."
07:15 And then they were just bickering with each other.
07:17 And there were just some heartwarming moments.
07:19 His youngest nephew was born January last year.
07:23 Luca was born January last year.
07:25 And Michael was due to be his godfather.
07:28 And he's tomorrow's godfather as well.
07:33 And it's just something he's so proud of being.
07:36 When we had tomorrow christened, you remember he turned up in that white suit.
07:41 He said, "If I'm going to be the godfather, I'm going to dress like the godfather."
07:45 And he turned up in this white, bloody suit to a christening.
07:50 But he makes other kids happy, like your story from skiing, Dad.
07:53 Yeah.
07:54 I don't know if you've seen the thing of him dressed as Woody.
07:57 It's worth a story here, I think.
07:59 Yeah, I mean, but that was classic Mike.
08:03 No arrangement, no prearrangement.
08:06 He decided that at some point in that holiday,
08:09 and it was just me, Sarah, and him had decided to go on holiday.
08:12 Basically, the two girls were getting married in and around that time.
08:16 It was all very much about them, and we wanted to do something with Mike.
08:20 And so we went on this skiing holiday, and he's deliberately packed his Woody onesie.
08:25 I don't know about it, but he's deliberately packed it because he's got this plan.
08:29 And his plan is to ski down the mountainside, top to bottom, dressed as Woody, for the giggle.
08:36 No other reason than that.
08:38 And that is classic Mike, because there are children on this planet who never knew who he was,
08:48 that he made laugh, and that have a precious memory, because Mike skied past them dressed as Woody.
08:55 And that was Mike, that ability to effortlessly give joy.
09:04 Almost when he couldn't find it himself, he could still give joy.
09:08 And that was just Mike.
09:10 And the first thing I knew, we were up having lunch, and we were going to ski down the mountain after lunch.
09:16 And he said, "Oh, hang on, I just need to get changed now."
09:18 I thought, "A bit of a strange thing to say, anyway, off you go."
09:21 And out he comes from the toilet, dressed as Woody.
09:24 "Hey!" And that was it. Down the mountain we went.
09:27 And that's Mike. That was Mike.
09:30 Okay, so obviously this last year has been a blur, and obviously it's recently culminated in the verdict.
09:36 Tell me a bit about your experiences over the last year.
09:39 Obviously, you've put a lot into the Mike's Trust.
09:42 Obviously, you've now got to the verdict, so feel free to mention how you feel about the verdict and the court and the experience.
09:48 Just talk a bit about your personal experiences over the last year, how it's been for you.
09:51 Well, if we go with the verdict first, I mean, firstly, what we said at the time of the verdict,
09:57 we are grateful to the justice system and its ability to uphold the laws of our society.
10:02 And whilst we welcome the verdict, it's not a victory.
10:07 Not because we disagree with the verdicts, we don't disagree with anything, but...
10:11 I think the verdict was right for Mike. I mean, the reality is the verdict was right for Mike.
10:17 The problem we have is we're, just like he was, and we think the whole family is, we're loving, caring people.
10:25 And with that verdict comes four young girls that are now going to grow up for a period of time without their mothers.
10:32 A young boy?
10:34 A young lad who's going to grow up without his dad, and some may judge that to be probably beneficial.
10:42 But these young girls without their mums, now Chelsea's presence won't be long gone.
10:50 Probably she'll be back within six months, and that's not too much of a problem for those young children.
10:56 They should be able to blend back in with their mother really quite quickly.
11:00 And Chelsea's parents are two lovely people. We know them well.
11:06 We've got to know them well because they were on the same boat as us, that journey in court.
11:12 But you look at Tia's young kids, I don't know what sentencing she's going to get.
11:17 Let's assume that eight, ten years' time she's coming back into their lives.
11:21 That's teenagehood, massive disruption to their lives, the pain, what they're going to have to go through.
11:30 Regardless of how well Tia's parents bring her children up, and again they will do a fabulous job because again they're really nice people.
11:42 But what those kids are going to have to go through in a decade's time is just horrible.
11:49 So with the verdicts come grief because we feel the grief of the families.
11:56 We feel their loss. We've lost Michael, but we still have unbelievable pride.
12:04 And the thing is as well, we have support. We have the sympathy vote for One To Better Words.
12:11 People look at us and go, "I can't believe how strong you're being."
12:14 But the families of Jake Hill, Tia Taylor, Chelsea Powell, they're getting abuse.
12:21 And some people may think that's justified because of what their children did, but it's not.
12:29 They are hurting just as much as we are. They have lost their children just as much as we have lost Michael.
12:35 And to know that people are being unkind towards those families, it hurts us and I find that disrespectful.
12:44 And the people that are out there saying these things and deliberately trying to be hurtful towards those families,
12:48 they need to step back and go, "This isn't my business. This is not my place.
12:53 And I need to keep out of it and let them find their own way to heal in peace."
12:59 Yeah, and the reality is if we can forgive and love them, then nobody else has any right to be anything other than that.
13:06 If the greatest wronged can still see that route, then that is the only route.
13:12 And as I say, we are left with a perfect, although truncated, a perfect memory of a wonderful man who we are desperately proud of.
13:23 They not only have lost for a period of time their offspring, but they can't have pride in their own child.
13:34 Can you imagine the devastation to a mother or father to lose that? That loss is huge.
13:43 Some people say, and I've had conversations with Jake's family, Jake's aunts are just wonderful women.
13:52 And they've said, "But you've lost more than us." And do you know what? I don't agree.
13:59 In some ways, I don't agree. We've all lost too much.
14:03 And ultimately, that's the impact that knife crime has.
14:07 It's not just the victim, it's all of those that are involved and perpetrated and all those around them.
14:12 Absolutely. And I think that's really one of the messages we are going to be trying to get out.
14:17 It's not just the person that ends up with the wound that is hurt.
14:22 It's also the families of that person, but the families of the person carrying the knife.
14:27 The friends of the person carrying the knife. It's so much bigger than those two people in that moment.
14:35 The pebble goes into the lake and then the ripples roll out. And those ripples go on and on and on.
14:43 One of the things I found quite interesting about the friends, particularly, I found an interesting juxtaposition,
14:48 was obviously one of those that had stab wounds was a friend of...
14:54 Yeah, Rhiannon Thompson.
14:56 Yeah, they grew up as youngsters. And this is part of the message we need to get out there about knife crime.
15:03 Just because if you turn around and go, "Well, I know Steve carries a knife, but he's my mate.
15:12 I'm not going to do anything about it. It'll be alright. It's not going to hurt me."
15:18 And then you're out on a drunken evening with him and whilst he slashes around like an idiot,
15:25 he could stab you because that's exactly what Jake did. He stabbed a friend.
15:31 No one is safe when someone's carrying a knife. No one is safe. Stranger or friend, no one is safe.
15:39 So let's go on to a bit about the aims of the Mike's Trust. Let's talk a bit about, obviously,
15:44 your own experiences is what's driven this to set up, the feeling of wanting to do something.
15:51 Tell us a bit about the aims of the Mike's Trust, including the meeting you've had today involving other
15:58 representatives of different youth groups, for example. Tell us what you're aiming to achieve.
16:02 What's your vision?
16:03 So our vision is working to educate young people about the repercussions of knife crime,
16:12 but also to work with other organisations to provide opportunities for young people to make better choices in the future.
16:20 Yeah, I mean, this primarily came out of the fact that if we're going to talk to people about knife crime,
16:28 we need to be able to talk to go into schools and talk to them and go into youth clubs and talk to them.
16:34 But also in early conversations with people working in youth clubs, it became that this is not a one problem problem
16:42 and it's not a one solution solution. You know, there are so many facets to this.
16:47 There are so many layers to this. You know, there are so many reasons why people end up being the idiot with the knife.
16:56 That we can't we can't have a single message to solve it.
17:02 And one of the things that did come out fairly clearly, fairly early option early on, is that.
17:11 It is in those youngest formative years that you can have the greatest effect to make the change to change people's lives.
17:20 So rather than catching someone that's got a knife and trying to change them, why don't you try and change?
17:26 And that's a major change. Why don't you work in an environment where three years earlier you're trying to do smaller changes that end up with them at the right place?
17:35 And the example I give is if there's an asteroid hurtling towards Earth and it's within the orbit of the moon, we're gone.
17:42 An asteroid is hurtling towards Earth and we can spot it far enough so that we can move it just a tiny little bit out by the orbit of Saturn.
17:50 That's just a gentle push. So the earlier we can start, the bigger changes we can make.
17:57 And that's why the youth groups suddenly become incredibly important because they're the ones doing the heavy lifting.
18:03 They're the ones doing all the work. They are becoming the moral compass, the what good looks like for so many of our youth.
18:12 And that's where we suddenly realise that actually it's not just the one solution solution.
18:18 It's not just us going around talking about knife crime.
18:20 It's also supporting those that look after our youngsters and bring them forward in the world to make them the people they can be.
18:29 It's also enabling everybody the right to be able to go to these youth groups.
18:34 So for some people, they might not know they exist. They may not be able to afford it.
18:38 But every child has some form of passion. Let's get them to a group that grows that passion, gets them into mingling with the right people,
18:48 gives them another family, another group of friends to be with.
18:52 If they have that addiction to this passion, they're more likely to go there every day and not end up going down the wrong path.
18:59 And then we don't need to tell them not to carry a knife. They're just going to not want to carry a knife.
19:04 You know, it's the same result, but from a very different viewpoint.
19:08 But as I say, the other thing is, you know, our drive is to stop someone carrying a knife so there isn't another family that feels the way we do.
19:16 And that would be the simplistic solution.
19:18 But if we do it this way, and we would never know if we achieve our aim of saving another family like us,
19:26 we're not going to know the name of the lad that didn't go out with a knife.
19:30 We're not going to know the name of the victim that never happened.
19:34 You know, we're not going to know any of that. So we're never going to know we've achieved anything.
19:38 But if we approach it from this way, if we've helped a load of youth groups get a few youngsters that little bit closer to good,
19:47 slightly better school results because they're a bit more stable, because they've got a good peer group, because they're feeling engaged,
19:54 slightly better exam results, resulting in a better possibility in careers and understanding of what good morals are,
20:03 what good parenting is, what good life skills are. If we just achieve that, that's amazing.
20:12 And I'll take that fallout every day of the week.
20:15 We need to show that we love our youth. No matter what your background is, what your home life is, you are loved.
20:21 There are people out there that will walk the ends of the earth to help you achieve what you want to achieve.
20:26 And by offering these youth groups, we might find the next Luke Littler.
20:33 You know, the possibilities are endless if we start working with these youth groups and showing Bodmin.
20:39 And hopefully this can be picked up in other towns. You know, it's not just Bodmin.
20:42 Let's try and build something that can then be used in Newquay, Truro, Redruth, everywhere.
20:47 Let's start. The youth are our future. We need to invest in them now.
20:52 Sure. So obviously, I would bet on the 29th of April last year, you probably didn't know an awful lot about knife crime.
21:01 I think that's fair to say. What has this year taught you?
21:04 What have you learned as you've gone through the process of building the Mike's Trust up?
21:08 I don't know if it's that knife crime is more prevalent in this past 12 months or if we are just more aware of it.
21:16 It probably is by about 5-7%, but no more than that.
21:20 But, you know, the amount of reports we've seen in the local Bodmin.
21:24 I mean, the other week there was three arrests of people, four arrests with people with weapons.
21:28 Three or four in February. I think it was two youths and then another one and then a potential fourth one.
21:34 But I think that turned out to be a screwdriver, not a knife in the end.
21:38 However, that's just in Bodmin alone.
21:41 On top of that, the month after Michael's death, there was a couple more.
21:45 So just in Bodmin, you're looking at, let's say, five arrests of people carrying weapons in Bodmin.
21:54 And then you look at the wider scale of things. Let's go to Cornwall.
21:58 How many reports have we had in Cornwall? People being arrested, threatening people with knives, armed robberies, injuries.
22:04 I mean, two deaths in Bodmin alone, but there were others in Cornwall.
22:09 And it is...
22:10 We've become more sensitive to it.
22:12 Yes, I think we have.
22:13 Every time we hear about another knife death or another knife injury or a gang-related violence involving knives, we hear it.
22:20 Whereas previously, we didn't hear it.
22:22 However, it is still not enough because there's still a lot that is not reported.
22:27 And we don't know the severity. You know, we've got the statistics that come out. Wonderful.
22:32 Excludes Devon and Cornwall, you know.
22:35 So it's really hard to... It's not always on the news.
22:39 You know, there was a family. I can't remember what it was, but there was a family where a lot lost their life.
22:45 It was a family of four. I think they were Polish.
22:49 Lovely family. No, you put it away.
22:52 But basically, and we do the whole don't carry a knife in public.
22:57 This didn't happen in public. It happened in a home where the father has stabbed to death his two young children, his wife,
23:05 and then managed to injure himself suitably that he died.
23:10 It was horrific. And I think it was in March or... No, no, it was after Mike's death.
23:16 I think it was in June. And I can't remember that being reported. And I'd have heard that.
23:21 How could four people, three innocent souls, have their lives taken by a knife and it not being headline news?
23:29 How was that not the biggest headline news?
23:34 There was one occasion and I brought it up on Facebook and I can't remember which particular lad it was.
23:41 But there was on the day after that there had been a stabbing death up north.
23:46 The BBC News did not mention it at all. Not once.
23:52 And so we need more of it being reported. We need more people to realise how bad it is.
24:01 And it's not just the deaths, it's the serious injuries.
24:05 There will be four and a half thousand hospital admissions related to knife injuries in a year.
24:11 I would say it is being recognised, the prevalence of knife crime is being recognised.
24:16 Did you see the clip I sent you with Richie Sinat the other day?
24:19 He was talking about knife crime. He was talking about zombie knives and things like that
24:26 and how the laws are changing around that. But obviously if it is being discussed in Parliament
24:31 then there is enough noise to say that things need to change.
24:35 But it needs to change with us here. We need to change the attitudes of people on the ground.
24:42 Having people in Parliament going, "Do you know what? We'll slap a couple of extra years on sentencing if you're carrying a knife."
24:49 It's not going to be a deterrent.
24:52 Because if you're going to walk out with a knife, you're going to walk out with a knife whether you could potentially look at five years in jail or ten years in jail.
24:58 The only people that are going to be able to change the prevalence of this sort of casual carrying of knives are their generation.
25:05 The people that are going to stop the 12, 13, 14, 15 year olds picking up the knife are the 12, 13, 14 and 15 year olds that are their friends.
25:15 The people of 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 have the ability to put social pressure on their mates who are 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 from carrying a knife.
25:26 Now it's not going to work every time but if you're a young lad wanting a social life and you discover that because you carry a knife
25:34 no one will go out for a drink with you, no one will date you, no one wants to spend any time with you, no one invites you to parties
25:41 then that's the sort of pressure that will change things.
25:45 Richie Soonak talking down to the country and telling them that carrying a knife is bad isn't going to make any difference at all.
25:52 Not because of his politics, not because of who he is, it's just because he's not relevant in that situation.
25:58 I'm not relevant in that situation. If I go into a school and start talking about the incredible pain I felt from losing Mike
26:06 and how the fact that that was so wrong, I might be able to get them having the conversation
26:14 but me turning around and saying you lot don't carry a knife would make no difference at all.
26:19 Okay finally, how can people access, if people are not aware of the Mike's Trust, how can they access you like for example online?
26:25 So we have our Facebook page which is Mike's Trust on Facebook. We also have the website, mikes.org.uk
26:33 Yes, there we go, I remembered it. The website is currently in development, it's very early stages.
26:39 I think that Facebook is the best portal to get most of our activities.
26:42 We do need a web designer, if you can put that in. Mike's Trust are desperate for a web designer.
26:48 And graphics designers. It's in the video now so there's nothing wrong.
26:51 We are struggling with certain elements like it's just us three and all three of us have full time jobs.
26:58 My sister and I both have very young children. You're also looking for volunteers.
27:02 But equally, let's not subtract Mike's Trust from the overall thing. If you look at youth clubs in general,
27:08 they all need support around web design, graphic design, accounting services, fundraising, volunteers.
27:17 These groups, hopefully supported by us but on their own anyway they do it, are doing such amazing work but they need a little bit more help.
27:27 We're not asking people to give up their jobs and just start becoming a web designer just for charity groups.
27:34 But if a few web designers just stuck their hands up and went, "Do you know what, I'll give you a couple of hours a month just to help."
27:41 And if 20 people did that, 20 people said, "Yeah, I'll do a couple of hours accounting work."
27:47 Because all of these charities have got to do accounts.
27:50 Or some people say, "Yeah, I'll do two hours a month doing volunteer work."
27:57 It would make a huge, huge difference. We desperately need support and it's so worth doing
28:04 because it could be your kids' lives that you save just by giving something a little.
28:09 You won't know but it's worth doing.
Recommended
0:17
|
Up next
34:24
2:57
2:36