Mum "rebuilds her life" after two sons murdered by their father (Birmingham, England, United Kingdom)

Back in 2002, Dad STEVEN WILSON stabbed to death his two sons, ages 7 and 8, after the mother told the dad that she was leaving the marriage. Note that the mother says he had been violent to her before the murders, but never to the boys. Just goes to show that a wife beater is not safe around anybody, especially children. The courts need to realize this, because "getting along" with an abuser never works.

http://www.birminghammail.net/news/birmingham-news/2010/03/17/mum-of-murdered-children-denise-williams-on-how-she-has-rebuilt-her-life-since-tragedy-97319-26046188/

Mum of murdered children Denise Williams on how she has rebuilt her life since tragedy
Mar 17 2010 by Anuji Varma, Birmingham Mail

FOR tragic mum Denise Williams the recent spate of child killings in the Midlands has brought back harrowing memories of the day her two sons were brutally murdered by their evil father.

The lives of eight-year-old Brett, and Brad, aged seven, were cruelly cut short when Steven Wilson killed them in cold blood at Hill Top Golf Course, Handsworth, after Denise announced she was leaving him.

Now, having marked the eighth anniversary of the tragedy last month, the mum is happily married to new husband Kevin Griffiths with two children Owen, aged seven, and five-year-old Katie, and another on the way.

But the appalling events of the day violent Wilson butchered her sons with a screwdriver at the beauty spot will never leave her.

He killed himself in prison a year later after his conviction for the murders.

“You never really get over something like this,” Denise, 33, told the Birmingham Mail. “And when I see stories about children being killed, it brings it all back to me.

“I study the reports and sit and wonder how I can stop all of this. I cannot understand why people do this sort of thing and I never will. Even though it happened to my children, I cannot begin to think how someone can murder their own child.

“There have been so many deaths lately which have really played on my mind.”

Last week, Gary Fisher, from Solihull, was convicted of the murder of his daughter, Chanelle Sasha Jones, aged 17.

Fisher, 48, of Kent’s Close, insisted he had killed her as part of a suicide pact and claimed she wanted to die because she had been raped. He stabbed her to death in Wales, admitting manslaughter, but a jury took just an hour to find him guilty of murder. He will be sentenced next week.

Another recent case saw cash-strapped businessman Hugh McFall, 48, from Oswestry, Shropshire, kill his wife, Susan, 55, and daughter Franceca, 18, before hanging himself.

“If you want to kill yourself then do it,” said Denise. “But don’t drag the rest of your family along too. It’s selfish and is purely done for revenge. But to take a young life is just such an awful thing to do.

“Punishing the surviving relatives like this is so cruel, and something they have to live with for the rest of their lives.”

Denise had plucked up the courage to leave Wilson in February 2002. She moved in with a friend and the boys stayed with Wilson so they could go to school while she sorted out a new home for them.

Three days later, Wilson agreed they could meet at McDonald’s.

The boys were excited but Wilson stared straight through Denise.

She recalled the night: “After tea, he insisted he drive me to the tram stop to give me more time with the kids. I kissed my boys goodbye and said: ‘Mummy has to go now, but I’ll see you soon.’

“Steve attacked me as I tried to get out of the car, then tried to run me over. He wound down the window and laughed in a crazed way as he sped off. The boys looked stunned.

“As I staggered home, Steve called my mobile and said: ‘I’ve just killed the kids’ and hung up.

“He was always full of threats. But this time I went straight to the police.

“They tried to calm me down and left me in a room on my own for a while. Outside I could hear phones ringing, helicopters overhead and officers running. I kept telling myself Steve wouldn’t hurt our boys.

“Then a police officer came into the room and broke down. He said, ‘I’m sorry, they’re dead.’ I was sickened, horrified. I blanked out.”

SINCE that terrible night, Denise has rebuilt her life. But it wasn’t without a struggle.

The full-time mum, who is five-months pregnant, added: “People say time is a healer but I don’t think it really is. My life spiralled out of control when my boys were killed.

“I would drink and smoke myself stupid. But one day something clicked and I knew I had to put my life together. Kevin really helped me and gave me the support I needed. It was what got me through.

“He was, and is, a caring partner who helped me to piece my life back together. You need a strong network of family and friends when going through something like this. You need someone there who loves and cares for you and that’s what I had in Kevin.

“Having Owen and Katie also helped. I wasn’t replacing Brett and Brad – I never will be able to as they were each individual and special in their own way.”

She continued: “The hurt never goes away. I think about the boys all the time and I visit their graves every two weeks and cry. Sometimes I am really moody. I think about what happened to them and how they were taken away at such a young age. They were innocent and didn’t do anything wrong.”

Pictures of the boys are carefully placed around the couple’s living room so they are never forgotten. On the eighth anniversary of their deaths Denise and the family visited the graves again to remember the boys.

“I talk about them all the time and Owen asks about them. He says he wishes they were here because he would have loved two older brothers. I don’t picture in my head what they would look like had they lived. I remember how they were.” Brett and Brad would have been 16 and 15 if they were alive today.

Denise said: “They were always really polite little boys and well-loved – a right little double act. They would have been angels if they had still been alive. They were good boys and that’s what I tell Owen. They were always being praised at school.”

Despite suffering at the hands of evil Wilson, Denise said before the killings he had never laid a finger on Brett and Brad.

“I was the one who suffered at his hands but I continued to go back to him. I lived an awful life, but he was never violent towards the children.

“When I decided to leave Steve he didn’t like it but, because of the way he was with the boys, I never thought he would kill them.

“If I had any inclination of what he was going to do I would have gone with him in the car when he took my sons. I was a victim of domestic violence and there are so many women out there going through the ordeal.

“It is so important to get out – and if there are children involved, take them. For a long time I kept thinking ‘what if’. But you can’t spend the rest of your life wondering what would have happened had I done things differently. You will just go mad.”