The mother of a murdered teenager has said his killer has "taken enough" and instead focuses on keeping her son's memory alive. Army cadet Joseph Lappin was just 16 when he visited a youth centre outside his area and inadvertently found himself in the middle of a street conflict in October 2008.
Joseph, who had his future mapped out and was only in Everton to watch his friends' band practice, was set upon by a gang of youths and fatally stabbed. His murder left behind his heartbroken parents, Toni and John, and younger siblings Beth and Michael.
Community rallying around family
The impact of the senseless murder reverberated much further. Merseyside was devastated, with the community in both Everton and Joseph's native Old Swan rallying around his family. Hundreds of people turned out for the teenager's funeral, in a bid to show the watching nation that the horrifying act of violence did not represent the city.
There isn't a blueprint on how to respond to losing a loved one, especially when it happens in circumstances that the Lappin family had to endure. However, out of something so dark came something incredibly positive - and ensures to this day that Joseph's legacy lives on.
Centre keeps Joseph's spirit alive
For nearly a decade-and-a-half, the Joseph Lappin Centre, on Mill Lane in Old Swan, has served its community. At the heart of everything that happens in the warrenlike stretch of corridors and rooms is Joseph and what he stood for.
Speaking to the ECHO at the centre this week, 62-year-old Toni remembered Joseph as "a bit of a joker", whose "mates were everything to him". She told the ECHO: "He had plans for the future. He knew what he wanted to do with his life. He was going into the Army. He was going through the application process.
"He was going to learn a trade in the Army, then when he came out, set up his own business. He told me he was going to get me my little retirement bungalow by the sea. But he was always up to mischief. I lost count of the phone calls I had from school saying 'Joseph's been doing this'."
"It was never anything too extreme, just boisterousness really. But he knew what he wanted. That's why outside the centre we have the sign 'do something with your life'. Because that's what Joseph would have done if he had the chance."
Fatal night in Everton
The tragic circumstances of Joseph's death are all-too-familiar for those who lived in Merseyside at the time. Joseph had gone with friends to watch their band practice at Shrewsbury House Youth Club, known as "The Shewsy", on the evening of October 20, 2008. He had gone outside the centre with Callum Naden and Greg Harold, when the wholly innocent pals were unwittingly caught in the middle of a local gang dispute.
"It was nothing to do with Joseph, we weren't from that area at all," said Toni. "It was the first time he'd been in that area and, unfortunately, Joseph got caught in the middle of it."
The Lappin family first found out there had been an incident involving Joseph when the police knocked on the door and said they had to get to hospital. "We got there and I was taken through into a little family room and a woman told me Joseph had been stabbed and didn't make it," the mum said.
"But Joseph's friend [Callum] was also injured and was in the hospital as well. While I was in the room I heard Joseph's friend's mum. They had obviously told her what happened and I heard her screaming. It was strange. It was me comforting her but I think my mind just completely shut down."
Mum-of-three Toni told the ECHO her main concern was how she would tell Joseph's brother Michael and sister Beth. She said: "My brain had shut down. I didn't know what to do. I thought I needed to tell them because otherwise they're going to hear it from somewhere else. That was the worst thing."
Toni said in the aftermath of her son's murder she was "in a bubble" and she questioned what he might have been involved in. "I did feel a sense of relief that he wasn't involved in all the gang culture," she said. "I just plodded on and my priority was making sure my younger two were okay."
Killer jailed, family moves forward
James Moore, then 17, was jailed for a minimum of 17 years in prison for murdering the Liverpool Scottish Regiment member. Nine others, armed with weapons and with their faces covered, who joined Moore in the attack, admitted conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.
Moore continued his obsession with violence and aged 26 was found with a knife inside prison. The ECHO understands Moore has served his minimum tariff and could be eligible for parole.
Does the Lappin family ever think about Moore and the gang who changed their lives forever? "To be honest, I don't waste any of my time thinking about them," Toni said. "They've taken enough from me, and I'm not allowing them to take anything else."
Toni said instead her focus is on keeping her son's memory alive, which is where the incredible work at the Joseph Lappin Centre comes in.
Toni said the idea to have something in Joseph's name first came when the area's councillors contacted her about setting up a foundation. She said she did not want something significant, instead, just something that would allow people to achieve their ambitions if they struggled to afford it.
There was also a festival in Joseph's name at Doric Park, which continues to this day, before the council-owned building where the centre now has its home became available. With the family's blessing, the centre was opened with the original main tenants Deaf Active and Merseyside Disability Federation.
Centre's success stories
Chief executive Kate McCormick, 63, formerly worked for Liverpool City Council's neighbourhoods team and would use the centre for community meetings. Speaking to the ECHO with Toni, she said: "I knew it would make a difference having someone whose job was to steer everything."
Kate came onboard at the centre in 2016 and now heads up a team of four who, along with a wealth of volunteers, keeps the centre running. She said that over any given week more than 60 activities and sessions take place within its walls.
When the ECHO visited the centre on Thursday, September 3, two dozen pensioners laughed over plates of biscuits and mugs of steaming tea in one room, while 100m down a corridor came the happy shouts from toddlers in the nursery.
In a tour of the centre, Toni and Kate showed the ECHO a music studio which Joseph's friends had recently painted and were using for practice; a fully stocked food pantry open to its community; a recently-cultivated garden with homegrown vegetables; and an artificial football pitch.
The corridors are lined with boards displaying pictures of the community engaging in activities at the centre. One wall is dedicated to Joseph's cadet regiment, which has used the centre as its base of operations since 2018. "It's full circle to have them here now," Kate said.
In the entrance hall is the centrepiece of the whole building - a beautiful mosaic of Joseph put together piece-by-piece by his friends and family. This ensures everyone who comes through the doors is aware of the person behind why they are there.
Joseph's story comes to the fore during a yearly football tournament. While football brings people into the centre, what happened to the teenager, told by one of the men who worked on him in the hospital, ensures everyone is aware why they are there.
"No punches are pulled," Kate said. "Children need to see this is what happens, this is the reality of carrying a knife and being in a gang. If you want to play in the tournament then you need to listen to the lessons.
"You can hear a pin drop when those presentations are on. And when people see the mosaic, we want those young people to go 'who is that', and 'why is that there'. We want that message to be constantly reinforced."
At the heart of the centre are the people behind it. The Lappin family connection runs through it; Joseph's sister Beth used to work in the centre's nursery, while Michael has been a regular volunteer as a guitar tutor.
And the reason why the centre is so important is demonstrated best by its success stories. Kate told the ECHO about a young mum who started last week as a teaching assistant after first being given an opportunity as a lunchtime assistant in the centre, and a young man who has started a part-time job in a charity shop following the death of his mum.
The importance of what goes on at the centre is summed up best by Toni. "It's open to all ages, from babies to pensioners and everyone in-between," she said. "It's giving the people what they want, what they need and it's somewhere they can always come."
