Mum Lyn Rigby has spoken of her “decade of heartbreak” as she faces the 10th anniversary of her son Lee’s murder.
She said she only survived the devastation of his execution because of the love of her husband and four daughters. On the landmark anniversary, she vowed to make sure Lee is never forgotten. Lyn said: “The pain is there every day, so much so that it becomes a part of you.
“But what tears me apart is to think that people have forgotten him 10 years on. It’s my job to make sure people remember him – not just as the murdered soldier from the TV but as a loving son, dad and brother.”
A machine gunner and proud drummer from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, Lee Rigby, 25, was butchered in a terrorist attack on May 22, 2013. The savage killing was carried out by two Islamist extremists as he walked to his barracks in Woolwich, south-east London.
He was off-duty and in civilian clothes when British-born Muslim converts Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale picked him out at random and attacked him. They mowed him down from behind in a speeding car before hacking him to death in the street with knives and meat cleavers, almost beheading him in front of hundreds of terrified onlookers.
But what stunned witnesses was that the jihadi killers didn’t run away after the murder. Instead, as police sirens drew closer, they stayed, roaming among the public, glorying in what they had just done. They tried to justify their actions as revenge for the deaths of fellow Muslims in wars such as Afghanistan.
They encouraged everyone to film them on their mobiles. The war on terror was no longer just a problem in a faraway land. It was here among us on the streets of Britain.
Lyn said: “This was one of the greatest ironies of all – the fact Lee had survived brutal frontline fighting against the Taliban during a tour of Afghanistan several years before. That was a horrendous time. Every day I lived in fear of him being killed in battle and when he returned home, it was a huge relief. Yet here he was in London, supposedly safe, and this is where it turns out he was at most danger.
“The fact the killers asked people to film them next to my son’s dead body means it is forever out there on the internet and we, as a family, have to live with that.”
The perpetrators expected to be killed by armed police, hoping they would be “martyred”. Instead, they were wounded and arrested, and later stood trial for murder. Both were given life sentences, with ringleader Adebolajo facing a whole-life tariff.
Lyn said: “I’ll never forget the darkest of days when he first died. I remember just wanting to die too so I could be with Lee.
“It was only being a mum to four other children that stopped me taking my own life. My husband Ian and my four girls saved me from myself. All of them were hurting so badly, including Ian, who loved Lee as his own despite being his stepdad.
“Together they all threw a ring of protection around me. As a family we pulled through together and to this day I have no idea how I am still standing. It’s nothing short of a miracle that the human heart can survive such sadness.”
As time passes, what’s crucial for Lyn is that Lee remains a huge part of the family. She added: “We will always have an empty chair at the heart of our family now – at birthdays, Christmas, and Easter, even summer barbecues and simple get-togethers. Lee will always be missing but he is never forgotten.”
Lyn has also devoted time to running her charity, the Lee Rigby Foundation, which she set up to help bereaved military families like her own, as well as suffering veterans. She said of Lee: “He was a kind soul.”
On May 22, Lyn will spend time with her family to remember Lee. She said: “A decade without Lee has been devastating but we will never let him be forgotten.”
● For more information on the Lee Rigby Foundation or bookings for the retreat, contact 01538 702949 or email info@leerigby foundation.org or retreat-wales@leerigbyfoundation.org
