In July 2023, 17-year-old Charlie Cosser attended a party in Warnham, West Sussex. Like many parents of teenagers, Martin and Tara Cosser were happy that their son was going to a gathering at a private house, rather than on a potentially rowdy night out in Guildford, Surrey, as he had originally planned.
Tragically, the Cossers were wrong. A fight broke out on the party’s dancefloor, and Charlie was stabbed three times in the chest by Yura Varybrus, who was 16 at the time. Charlie’s catastrophic injuries included a cut to his aorta, which led to internal bleeding and cardiac arrest. The many harrowing moments recalled here include Charlie’s sister, Eloise – now 18 – listening to her brother’s heart beat for the final time, before his life support was turned off two and a half days after the attack. He was, says Martin, “a beautiful son in every way”.
