Lee Rigby's mother reflects on 10th anniversary - and says she will never forgive her son's killers

Mother of Lee Rigby says it "feels like yesterday" since her son's murder.

The mother of British soldier Lee Rigby, who was brutally murdered by Islamic extremists 10 years ago, says his death "feels like yesterday."

The 25-year-old father and Fusilier, who was from Middleton in Manchester, was killed on 22 May 2013, near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich in London.

In an exclusive interview ahead of the anniversary of his murder, Lyn Rigby, Lee's mother, has told ITV News that she will never forgive her son's killers.

Lyn explains: "10 years seems a long time to most people, but 10 years to me just seems like yesterday. We've had good days. We have bad days. We have ups and downs.

"I still feel it like it was yesterday. The pain is still there, but we've come together as a family and we just try to do what we can do to survive."

Islamist radicals Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale attacked Lee, who was off-duty at the time, by running him down with a car and using knives and a cleaver to stab and hack him to death.

The killers are serving a whole-life term and 45 years respectively for the father-of-one's murder.

When asked about her son's killers, Lyn said: "We don't talk about them. We don't ever want to talk about them.

"I'm very angry and I just don't want anybody to go through the grief we've been through. I will never forgive them, ever."

Mobile phone footage of Lee's killers standing over his body covered in blood and brandishing the weapon they used to murder him were seen around the world.

"It took me a lot of years and getting images out of my head," Lyn said.

"I will never forgive them", says Lyn Rigby about her son's killers who are serving a life sentence.

"You just close your eyes and that's all you saw were those horrific scenes. I saw everything.

"I struggled for a few years with that but I try not to think of that I just try to think of the good times, with Lee.

"For a mother to go through that, it totally broke me. The kids said before that I was a changed person, changed mum."

Lyn wants Lee to be remembered for the "bubbly" son, a brother and a father that he was, instead of his brutal murder.

She said: "Lee has always been classed as the soldier that was killed in Woolwich, but Lee was a person and I would like him to be remembered as Lee - as a son, a brother, a father.

"He was a bright, bubbly young man - and that is I would like him to be remembered."

After Lee's death, his mother and father set up the Lee Rigby Foundation, a charity that provides a support network for bereaved military and veteran families.

"We got approached by other bereaved families and they'd lost loved ones in Afghanistan and Iraq," Lyn explains.

"It's a group you don't want to belong to. But they were in similar situations to us and they weren't getting the help they needed."

'I want him Lee to be remembered for more than his murder', says Lyn Rigby on the 10th anniversary of his death.

Lyn and her husband's goal is for the foundation to run a network of static caravans around the UK where bereaved families can visit for respite."People keep saying 'Lee would be proud of you'. I am proud because the families absolutely love it," Lyn said.

"It warms my heart knowing that we're helping others because that is what Lee would've done.

"This year, we're looking into buying another caravan in the Skegness area because that was where I used to take Lee. That is my goal now. That would be amazing."

If you would like to find out more information on the fundraising campaign to buy that caravan, it can be found here.

A decade on from Lee's murder, Bury FC's Gigg Lane will be hosting a Lee Rigby Memorial Cup match between a North West "superstars" team and a Rangers select side.

It is taking place on Saturday 24 June. More information on the Lee Rigby Foundation can be found here.

You can watch the extended interview with Lyn Rigby as she talks to ITV Correspondent Mel Barham here:

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