Alfie Lewis’ mother has visited the shrine of floral tributes left to her ‘heart of gold’ 15-year-old son after he was stabbed to death while allegedly collecting his friend’s little brother from primary school.
Mother-of-two Heather Lane collapsed in tears today as she visited the floral shrine left in his memory on a bench close to the family home.
Ms Lane knelt down in front of a photograph of her with Alfie as a little boy and sobbed uncontrollably for several minutes. She was comforted by a family friend.
Alfie’s friends gathered today to lay flowers and pay their respects to the ‘funny’ teen, who they said was ‘targeted’ by a known ‘troublemaker’.
The 15-year-old died after suffering critical injuries in an attack outside St Margaret’s Primary School in Leeds shortly before 3pm yesterday. Witness claim he was stabbed in the stomach by a ‘gang’ of at ‘least three youths who then fled the scene’.
Police have arrested a teenage male in connection with the murder.
‘Heart of gold’ Alife Lewis (pictured) was stabbed to death yesterday
Mother-of-two Heather Lane collapsed in tears today as she visited the floral shrine left in his memory on a bench close to the family home. She is pictured with Alfie in a photographs left at the makeshift memorial
Tributes left on a bench on Broadgate Lane, Horsforth today following the death of Alfie Lewis
Tributes to Alfie have flooded in following his tragic death yesterday
Ms Lane spent around three minutes at the the memorial created on bench where her son would regularly meet with friends.
She clutched a blue blanket tightly as she was consoled by Alfie’s older brother Antony, who said his younger sibling had a ‘heart of gold’.
Antony also wept in front of the bench where many tributes and flowers have been left in his memory at the end of Stanhope Drive.
Alfie looked up to his older brother, Antony, who manages local football team Cosa Nostra.
The friend said: ‘His brother is a good footballer. He wanted to start playing for us once he was old enough.
‘He was just waiting to turn 16 to start playing with us.’
Friends have claimed that Alfie was walking to Horsforth School to meet his friends at the end of the school day when he was stabbed to death.
One said: ‘He was walking past the primary school and a car pulled up and jumped him. Everyone knows the lad who did it.
‘He’s a troublemaker. He’s aggressive and he turns on people. He was driving around with other people looking for trouble.
‘They stabbed him, jumped back in the car and fled.’
A bench where Alfie, 15, used to meet friends near his home, in Horsforth, has become a shrine – with hundreds of floral tributes, football shirts, a lion teddy and candles
Mourners have left bouquets of flowers and a toy car at the police cordon at the junction of Church Road and Church Lane, where Alfie was attacked yesterday
St Margaret’s Church in Horsforth has today opened its doors to wellwishers in the community who wish to offer up prayers and support to Alfie’s family and friends. The church has lit a candle in honour of the teen and placed his photo on a linen-covered table next to a glass cross
A close friend of the family said he believed the attack was ‘targeted’ but knew of no reason why Alfie would be the target of such an attack.
‘He would never carry a knife himself, he is just not like that,’ said the friend. ‘He loved going out, playing football and doing boys things.’
Alfie was said to have had ‘troubles’ in his life and attended an educational unit in Leeds for pupils with problems. He was previously a student at Horsforth School but a friend said he was expelled from there.
Another friend told how Alfie was in a specialist pupil referral unit after leaving mainstream education.
He was in Year 10 and studying for GCSEs.
The friend said: ‘School wasn’t for Alfie. It’s not for everyone.
‘He was getting on really well at the special school. He was doing different hobbies, like working with wood and painting.’
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
