Jailed defendants in double murder case had been 'let down by the system' says victim's mum

Tracey Ansah's son Dom was viciously hacked with a knife 47 times in a revenge attack by five members of a postcode gang in MK.

Today the offenders, who were aged between 16 and 22 at the time, were all given life sentences - a total of 126 years.

But the families of Dom and his childhood friend Ben have been serving their own life sentences of grief ever since their sons died.

Tracey told the Mail Online: "My heart breaks every day waking up and feeling this gut-wrenching pain of not having my son... every day not hearing him say "I love you mum" because he was never embarrassed to say those words, even in front of his friends.

"All our hopes and dreams have gone, he will never be a father, an uncle, he will never pass his driving test, he will never open that barbershop he wanted, he will never get the chance to do anything again," she added.

She said Ben, Dom and the defendants had all been 'failed' by schools and social services and the system generally.

"If they had done what was right by them, they might not have done this to our boys. The system's the problem," she said.

Ben's parents described their son as a 'very charismatic' boy who was widely adored.

His dad Jason Rice said: "He was extremely funny. His friends said just how funny he was, whenever there was a gathering on they'd want him there, he would light up the party."

Both families say no sentence would ever be long enough for the people that killed their sons.

The court heard the five defendants, Earl Bevans, 23, Clayton Barker, 20, Ben Potter, 17, Charlie Chandler, 23 and his 17-year-old brother Jamie Chandler, ambushed an Emerson Valley house party in October 2019.

All five of them were either members or associated with members of the B3 gang in West Bletchley, named after the MK3 postcode. They had plotting the attack after being informed members of the rival M4 gang, based at Westcroft, were at the party.

Ben was stabbed six times in the living room and died instantly. Dom was chased outside the house and hacked ruthlessly, suffering 47 injuries. He died in hospital hours later with his family at his bedside.

Today, as the defendants begin their long stretches in custody, police have said they hope the case will act as a warning to all other people carrying knives in MK. See Citizen story here