A heartbroken mother has spoken publicly for the first time about the devastating moment she discovered her son fatally stabbed in the street, cradling him as he died in her arms. Sylvia Welsh, from North Shields, says her life ended a decade ago when her beloved firstborn, 24-year-old Reece Allen, was lured from his home and brutally murdered in a frenzied knife attack.
A Mother's Unimaginable Trauma
Now 54 years old, Sylvia Welsh has revealed she remains tortured by the horrific events of January 25, 2016, when violent thug Joe Welsh smashed a window at her North Shields home in the early hours to lure Reece into the street. "I wish it was me instead of Reece," Sylvia confessed. "I think about that every day. I would rather it had been me. I feel like 10 years ago I died and nothing has been the same since then."
The Night That Changed Everything
Sylvia recalls hearing banging on her window and seeing a man with a contorted, angry face shouting and swearing. "I didn't know who he was. I had never seen him before," she explained. After the man ran off, Reece arrived home from being out with friends, and Sylvia told him about the incident, pointing in the direction the assailant had fled.
"Reece went running after him and I ran after him to try and stop him," Sylvia remembered. "I was trying to get him back. I knew this lad had lured him out to do something so I ran after him."
The Horrific Discovery
Moments later, Sylvia saw her son staggering toward her before collapsing into her arms. "I didn't realise he had been stabbed multiple times," she said. "He was bleeding and his breathing was starting to rattle. I was just saying: 'Come on Reece, it's mam, stay with us'."
Despite her desperate attempts to save him, Reece died hours later in hospital. Sylvia revealed that even when medical staff said there was nothing more they could do, she insisted: "get out the way, I'll do it."
A Life Cut Short
Reece Allen had been on the brink of turning his life around at the time of his murder, waiting to hear back about a job working on wind turbines and hoping to move into his own flat. The killer, Joe Welsh (no relation to Sylvia), had targeted Reece after what Sylvia describes as a "petty" spat on Facebook.
"This thing was notorious for carrying weapons," Sylvia fumed. "He was luring him and he just kept goading him. And the one thing he knew would get him was smashing my window. Reece was very protective of me. We could argue like dog and cat, but we loved each other."
A Decade of Living With Loss
Joe Welsh was jailed for life with a minimum of 25 years for the murder, but Sylvia says this brought her no peace. "Your world stops but nothing else does," she explained. "You have still got to earn money and pay your mortgage. All I do is work, come home and look after the kids. Even exciting things are dulled down."
Sylvia has largely shut herself off from the world since the tragedy, finding solace only in her grandchildren. "My grandkids keep us going," she said. "I wake up every morning and the first thing I remember is Reece isn't here. I have got to get up every morning and think 'how am I going to get through the day?'"
A Stark Warning About Knife Crime
In a powerful message about the devastating impact of knife crime, Sylvia emphasised that no one escapes unscathed from such violence. "Nobody walks away from this unscathed," she stated firmly. "Even the passers-by. There's no excuse whatsoever to carry a weapon, whether you are scared or not. If you are carrying you are either going to use it or have it used against you."
The grieving mother's testimony serves as a heartbreaking reminder of the lasting trauma inflicted by violent crime, with Sylvia concluding: "The whole family is living with this missing piece" ten years after their devastating loss.
