The family of Leslie Woodward have endured 30 years of heartache as the 17-year-old’s killers have never been caught
Leslie Woodward as a child with his younger sisters, Louise and Lindsay(Image: Louise Woodward)
The dad of a 17-year-old boy stabbed to death at a house party in Bootle “never got justice” after dying suddenly. Leslie Woodward’s son, also called Leslie, was fatally knifed following an argument in the early hours of Sunday July 31, 1994.
The teenager, known affectionately as Les, had been out with friends in Liverpool city centre the day before. As night fell, he caught a taxi with some friends to a party that was being held in a flat above some shops, situated at the junction of Hawthorne Road and Bedford Road.
It was here he became involved in a petty row which led to him being stabbed. He was taken to Aintree Hospital, where he died of his injuries later that day.
Nobody has ever been convicted over Leslie’s murder. Tragically, Leslie Sr died in January – with his son’s case still agonisingly unresolved. His daughter, Leslie’s sister, Louise said: “My dad passed away quite suddenly. He was only 69 and he never, ever got justice and for him, he died with a lot of regrets.
“He thought about it all the time. He always said ‘I wish I went out with him that night. I wish I told him to come home earlier’. We lost him and he never got justice. It’s been traumatic for us all.”
Louise was just 10-years-old when her brother was murdered. Now aged 41 and living in West Derby, she said: “It has been a long time. I just remember my grandparents coming around and finding out what happened, and I didn’t know any of the details right away.
“The family were all coming to the house and I didn’t really know what was going on. People were upset and frantic, because we didn’t know what had gone on until my mum and dad came back rom the hospital and said he’d died.”
Following an investigation, Louise said two specific names had been linked to the attack – but without evidence or witnesses to back up their suspicions, the case quickly fell apart.
She said: “No witnesses would come forward. What we needed was people to give their names. We know their names, and we know other people know. But we can’t stand up in court and say it, and without witness confirmation there’s nothing we can do.
“People don’t realise the effect it had on the family, the effect it had on my mum and dad, how protective they became of me and my sister. I’m very protective of my own son. I’m scared to let him breathe because I know how easily things can change.
“We understand why people might not want to come forward, because they will have families of their own and they might feel scared. But for us it’s very upsetting because we have lost a brother, a son. Our children never got to meet their uncle.”
She said: “Leslie was outgoing. He loved you make you laugh. He was a cheeky chappy, as we often called him. He was always on his bike and he had a lot of friends around him. He was a loveable person who would help anyone, which we think caused the situation that he ended up in. He would do anything for anyone.
“We were heartbroken. We have never, ever got over it. On days out there’s always that piece of the puzzle missing. We have kids who have never met their uncle. He’s missed out on so much, and we’ve missed out on so much because he was a massive part of our family.”
Leslie Woodward was just 17 when he was killed(Image: Louise Woodward)
It has been more than three decades since Leslie was murdered, but Louise said she and her remaining family still held out hope that his killers will one day be caught.
She said: “I don’t know what they looked like. I could be standing in a chippy next to them and I wouldn’t know. And it worries me that they have done this crime and gotten away with it and have been at peace in their lives, while our family has been in turmoil since 1994.
“I always wondered would he have had children, would he have a family, what kind of job would he have, would we still be close?
“As for our parents, my dad and mum were never the same. It’s not the natural order to lose your children and then never see justice.
“Will someone come forward? I don’t know. Maybe not. But I have hope, and I hope that someone has a conscience and a heart, and hopefully an appeal might remind people this happened and make them think. Maybe even the people who did it. They might have children and grandchildren by now. How would they feel if it was one of their children?
“My brother was murdered. He was just at a party enjoying himself when he was stabbed. They had a knife, they intended to harm him. It’s not like it was an accident. If you go out with a knife you intend to use it, and to me that’s a coward.”
Howard Rubbery, the head of Merseyside Police’s Serious Crime Review Unit, said: “It has been more than 30 years since Leslie lost his life in such devastating circumstances and his family and friends still mourn his loss today.“No murder investigation is closed and it is never too late to do the right thing and come forward with information about who was responsible for killing Leslie. Please do the right thing for Leslie and his family.”
Anyone with information is asked to DM @MerPolCC, call 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 11.