Sally Knox keeps to the same ritual every day. She wakes up, makes her way to the kitchen where a photo of her son Rob sits on the windowsill next to the kettle.
She kisses it gently as the water boils, and pictures Rob as he should be now: 33, a successful actor, perhaps settled down with a baby or two. Happy. Alive.
Sally and her ex-husband Colin Knox suffered the worst nightmare any parent can imagine on May 24, 2008, when Rob was stabbed to death in the street.
The 18-year-old had been celebrating the end of filming for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
He was thrilled to play Marcus Belby in the sixth instalment of the franchise, which also included Michael Gambon, David Bradley and Jim Broadbent.
Now, 15 years on, Rob remains in his mum's heart. She says: "I get up every morning and give him a couple of kisses.
"The awful feelings and wanting to cry all the time does get less, although it never goes away."
The night of the killing still looms large for Sally. Her home in Sidcup, South East London, was a meeting point for Rob and his younger brother Jamie's friends.
A group of mates were round getting ready for the night out Rob had organised at the Metro Bar in Sidcup.
Sally says: "There was a lot of excitement in the house. They were planning their first lads' trip to Zante [Greece] in two weeks and having a drink in the kitchen.
"Rob’s friend Callum said, 'Where’s your six-pack?' Rob was a bit over-weight, and laughed and said, 'I’m working on it.'
"Then Callum said he was going to buy Rob one of those tie-on aprons with the six-pack on it. We all laughed. That’s the last conversation we had.
"They left for the pub at 7.30pm and he shouted goodbye. I called out to Jamie to be back by midnight as he was only 17."
As the night wore on, Sally had no inkling anything was wrong. Outside the bar, convicted killer Karl Bishop, who had been barred a week earlier after an altercation with Rob and some punters, was behaving erratically.
He disappeared and came back armed with two kitchen knives, which he used to threaten Rob’s friend Nick.
Jamie and his pal Callum were in a car outside, spotted the situation and drove on to the pavement to confront Bishop. When Bishop threatened to turn his knives on them, Jamie called his brother for help. Rob came outside and tried to remonstrate with Bishop. But the then 22-year-old, recently out of jail for another stabbing, plunged his knives into Rob’s body five times.
Sally says: "It was just before midnight and I was cross because Jamie still wasn’t back, so I called his mobile. No answer.
"Then I got a call and it was Jamie, almost hysterical, saying, ‘Mum, get down to the Metro Bar now, Rob’s been stabbed, it’s bad.'
"I don't even remember driving the car there but I saw police and ambulances everywhere because four other people had been stabbed.
"I saw Jamie running up the road and abandoned the car. I was desperately trying to get to Rob but the police wouldn’t let me through."
Police eventually told Sally she and Jamie could follow the ambulance to the hospital, where they were told to wait in the family room. Sally knew Rob was deteriorating but busied herself by checking on the mum of another of Rob’s friends who had been stabbed through the hand. She says of Rob: "I thought, ‘Please God, don’t let him die’ but it crossed my mind."
After 40 minutes, a doctor and police officer broke the news that her son had died.
Sally says: "I just remember sitting down. I didn’t scream or anything, but I got really angry. I told them, ‘I need to see him, I need to see him’.” But I wasn’t allowed to because they said, ‘He is evidence’."
It wasn’t until the following day, a Sunday, that Sally was let into the chapel of rest to see her son.
She says: "I can remember walking in and thinking, ‘My God, he looks completely normal.'
"He had a little plaster on his head. He looked like he was smiling." Police warned her Rob’s death would be on the news and she was worried about letting family in Australia know first.
But Sally also had to come to terms with the fact he had been murdered.
She says: "All I could be thankful for was that after Rob had been stabbed, his mates all jumped on Bishop.
"I remember thinking, ‘Thank God he’s been arrested.'"
Bishop was convicted of murder and jailed for a minimum of 20 years.
Sally gets a letter every year from Victim Support updating her on the killer’s jail conditions. And is aware he will come up for parole in 2028.
Ahead of a new ITV documentary, she says: "I’ve been very good at leaving him out of my head. Whatever happens, I can’t dwell on it. Rob would hate me being an angry person."
Sally is still tackling waves of grief that come out of the blue – such as being sparked by a song on the radio.
Rob had loved American Boy by Estelle and Kanye West, which was played at his funeral.
Sally visits his grave and smiles when she spots cigarettes and cans of beer his friends have left in tribute.
She says: "If Rob had lived he would have been acting still.
"He would have been a great dad, he was so good with children – he once came to meet me and a friend, who’d just had a baby, in Pizza Express. He offered to hold the baby so we could eat. That was the kind of person he was – not a saint, but a kind-hearted boy."
Her son Jamie lives in Yorkshire with his wife and child. Sally says: "When they said they were moving, I thought, ‘Thank God, get yourselves out of London where you’ll be safe.’"
News of other stabbings hits Sally hard. "It feels never-ending," she says.
She and Colin set up The Rob Knox Foundation, which supports youths and educates them about the dangers of carrying knives for protection.
Sally says: "Knife crime is getting worse. And every time it happens, my heart goes out to their family because I know what they’re going through.
"There isn’t an appropriate punishment for carrying a knife, something desperately needs to happen to stop senseless deaths like Rob’s."
Film is tribute to pal who brought such joy, says documentary director and Rob's pal Aaron Truss
He said: "Rob and I grew up around the corner from each other, but we didn’t become close friends until we went to theatre school.
"He was really adventurous, he was outgoing and he’d always make us laugh. He had this sense of calmness and seemed bulletproof to me.
"It was all the more shocking when he was killed; a reality check. I hope people will see Rob the real guy, not just the Harry Potter star, because there’s a bit of Rob in all of us.
"He’s been robbed of his entire adult life – I’d much prefer him bringing joy to the world, rather than being a beacon of warning."
- (K)nox: The Rob Knox Story is
on ITVX from today.
