Written by Matthew Acton
Featured in The Sun newspaper
REVEALED: Pictures thug took of dying boy THESE are the shocking images that broke a mother’s heart…for the second time. For as her teenage son lay fatally wounded from a blow to the head, a sick monster filmed the harrowing moments on a mobile phone. Rather than help stricken Triston Christmas by dialling 999 on the handset, the vile yob then sent the horrifying so-called ‘happy slapping’ video to pals. Triston, right, died a week after being assaulted. Last night, his mother Siobhan said: “They call it happy slapping, there is nothing happy about videoing a dying boy. People who do this are fiends, monsters. “This evil has to be stopped and that’s why I want the News of the World to publish the photos.” Drama student Triston, 18, was felled by a blow from violent Gary Roper, whose pals filmed the sickening aftermath. But even before his life had ebbed away, Roper’s sick pals began sending the shocking footage to their mates. The video was shot in the entrance to flats in Romford, Essex, in January. It shows Triston on his back with his arms above his head. Blood flows from the side of his mouth and trickles down his cheek. Slowly, his left arm moves forward to rest against his side and he tries to mumble some words. Divorcee Siobhan, 42, from Ilford, Essex, said: “It sounds like he was trying to say, ‘Mum, mum.’ but he couldn’t get the word out properly.”
Triston had been invited to Roper’s 18th birthday party but the Old Bailey heard Roper held a grudge against him since Triston had pinched his girlfriend’s bum a year earlier. Roper met Triston when he arrived at the flats where the party was being held, and put his arm around him. Then he punched him in the face, throwing him on to the concrete floor knocking him unconscious while Roper callously went back to the celebrations. Triston was discovered by a resident of the flats and rushed to St George’s Hospital, Ilford, where his mum and sister Olivia, 10, kept a bedside vigil. Five days later he had recovered consciousness, but then suffered a massive heart attack and died the following day, sparking a murder inquiry.
Two weeks after his death, Siobhan, right, received an urgent phone call from police saying they had new information for her. The vile video had been sent to one of Triston’s friends and she called cops. They showed Siobhan the tape. Roper, of Ilford, gave himself up and was charged with murder, though this was later reduced to manslaughter. He was convicted following a four-day trial at the Old Bailey earlier this month and was remanded in custody waiting for sentencing on September 9. After the trial, Siobhan said: “I would never want any parents to go through what I’ve been through. “Triston was such a cheeky chap. He was really into his rap music and was a promising drama student. He couldn’t wait to be on TV-that was his dream. He’ll never fulfil that now. “He was a real womaniser, and right up to the end in hospital he would ask me if there were any nice young female nurses on duty. “But most of all, he loved his mummy. Our final holiday to Tenerife, a week before he was attacked was a Godsend. “We played indoor cricket when it rained, and he bought me a cheap watch for my birthday. It doesn’t work, but I will treasure it for ever. “I’d rather remember him for that than the images playing over and over in my mind. “How can any parent forget watching their son so badly wounded? That will prey on my mind for ever.”
If you would like to sell your story to the UK press, please contact us today for a free valuation.
