Mother's tribute to murdered student Matthew Pyke

THE mother of murdered Nottingham student Matthew Pyke has told of her anguish after hearing her son had been stabbed to death.

"It was the worst moment of my life and the thing that no parent ever wants to hear," said Matthew's mother, Kim Pyke, describing the moment officers knocked on her door to break the news at 10.15pm on September 19.

"I was totally devastated and kept thinking that anytime soon somebody would tell me that it wasn't true.

"I felt numb and sick to the stomach. I just didn't know what to do. I kept crying until I had no more tears to shed, and then just sat there in a daze. I went through every emotion in the book.

"Until that knock on the door, we were a completely normal family.

"That moment changed our lives forever."

Mr Pyke was brutally stabbed to death by David Heiss, 21, at the flat he shared with his girlfriend Joanna Witton above the Orange Tree pub, in North Sherwood Street, on September 19.

Heiss travelled from Germany to the flat and stabbed Mr Pyke 86 times with a knife after developing an unhealthy obsession with Miss Witton through her online journal.

Mrs Pyke said her son met Joanna when he was 17. He had told her he was going to see a band in York but actually went to meet Joanna, whom he had met through their mutual love of computer games on the internet.

She said: "Before he went off to Nottingham Trent University in 2006, Matthew brought Joanna home to introduce her to us and it was clear they were besotted with each other.

"They were so close and got on so well that they reminded us of a young married couple with everything to look forward to. Joanna was such a lovely girl and you could see that she was going to be so good for Matthew.

"They moved in together in September 2007 and were both really happy there and were still getting on really well.

"Meeting Joanna was a big thing for Matthew. She brought him out of himself and built up his self-confidence.

"She even persuaded Matthew to go and watch some Nottingham Forest matches with her, and he even started to show an interest in football, which would have been unheard of before.

"We always thought that Matthew and Joanna would get married and have children together – they spoke about it often and were mad about children.

"Matthew was talking about starting his own computer business and was already mapping out his future with Joanna. We all know in our hearts that at least Matthew had the best days of his life when he met Joanna and knowing he was so happy does bring us some comfort."

Mrs Pyke said her son was very close to his older brother Adam.

She said: "My husband William cannot even talk about Matthew's death. He just sits there in silence or wanders off into the garden to gather his thoughts. It has completely destroyed him.

"Matthew's older brother Adam has three young children who adored Matthew and he adored them in return.

"Those children have been robbed of a loving uncle and still don't understand what has happened and where Uncle Matthew has gone.

"The one thing we want more than anything is Matthew back with us, just sitting at his computer playing his games and looking back at us with his cheeky grin. We all wish we could turn the clock back but we can't.

"He was a wonderful son, brother and uncle, and his whole life revolved around his family, Joanna and computers. He has been stolen from us and not a day goes by without us thinking about him."

Mrs Pyke said she last saw her son in August when he came to visit them in Stowmarket with Joanna. The last time Mrs Pyke remembers talking to her son was September 12 or 13 when she joked with him about him sending her a birthday card.

Less than a week later he was dead.

Matthew was interested in computer games, reading and music and was planning on going back to Nottingham Trent University to do a computer sciences with games technology degree course.

Mrs Pyke listened to the evidence at Nottingham Crown Court throughout the trial.

She said: "I wanted to know exactly what had happened to Matthew. I've got a very vivid imagination and I felt the best way to deal with that was to get all the facts. Listening to the evidence has been incredibly hard."

claire.carter@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk