'My mum torn to pieces over death of my dad'

Gavin Thorpe said there was a real prospect he could find himself without any living parents following the loss of his dad, Cyril Thorpe.

"When I look at mum (Petronella Thorpe), I can see that she has been torn into pieces by the events which have not only taken away my dad but her husband of 35 years.

"Over that time so many things have happened, good and bad, but they were still very much together, which is no easy feat these days. Yet, now they are apart for the first time in close to 40 years.

"Is it any wonder that mum goes to the grave every day without fail? If someone can tell me how to put that right, I am all ears.

"I am also living and coping with the effects of mum's illness '“ a terminal, life-taking cancer.

"Mum should be in remission now but all the stress and emotional turmoil she been unnecessarily put through due to dad's death has brought the cancer back.

"I worry she won't have the strength or will to fight it this time and I will find myself parentless '“ a day which, not unlike the past two years, will be hell on earth. Dad was, and still is, my hero, my star, my energy. He is what has made me the person I am today," he explained.

"From my Sunday morning paper round so many moons ago, to working together at the George, the laughs and steak dinners to our late-night conversations, my dad was my best friend, as he was to so many other people.

"He was a great man and will always be remembered as such. No-one can take that away from me. Physically, I have no scars but, emotionally, this is my biggest tangible blow."

Middleton resident Mr Thorpe was speaking following the Observer's report last week into the court case of the man who killed his father, Cyril (64), in a crash.

Mr Thorpe (28) said his family had been forced to accept the result of the trial because of the 'health issues of the parties involved, time-scale and public interest'.

He described his family as being left with a sense of injustice and a feeling they had been cheated by the outcome.

The accident had denied his dad the last decades of his life looking after and enjoying his family.

His loss had also caused financial problems which could see his 56-year-old mum having to leave the house in Whiteways she and his father worked hard all their lives to obtain.

His sister, Eloise (24), who lives in Bognor Regis town centre, had also been left without the immense source of strength which had been her father at a time when she was a young mum with her daughter, Shakira (three).

Mr Thorpe added: "Losing dad now was not meant to happen."

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