A GRIEVING mother has shared her anger after her son’s killer was released from prison to continue committing violent crimes.
Tony Mahoney was 18-years-old when he was stabbed to death at Canvey’s Kings Holiday Park in 1999.
Killer James Gubb was convicted of his murder after stabbing him in the heart and handed a life sentence serving 14 years before he was released back into society.
Since his release Gubb, now 38, of no fixed address, has spent his life going in and out of prison for various violent offences and is currently awaiting sentence for armed robbery.
Tony’s mother, Michele Harrison, has criticised the criminal justice system for repeatedly granting Gubb chances to turn his life around which he fails to use.
Speaking with the Echo, Michele said: “I feel it is insulting to the memory of my son and I don’t understand it at all.
“How can someone be like that? He committed murder and is given another chance to have a life, a family and be normal - which my son will never have - and he just throws it away.”
Gubb appeared at Basildon Crown Court last week where he admitted a string of robberies including an armed robbery at Canvey Social Club in November.
He has been remanded for a dangerousness assessment and sentencing.
Ms Harrison said: “The probation service have to let me know every time he breaches his licence and when they called me this time, I was angry - this is the third time.
“He’s supposed to be rehabilitated but when does he stop? He has never shown any remorse. When he was first convicted, I would go to bed and think about my son but I would also have an ounce of sympathy for Gubb thinking his life was over.
“But now it’s clear killing Tony meant nothing to him. He doesn’t care what he’s done to me.
“I am praying that when he is sentenced for this latest crime, he will be put away for life. He doesn’t deserve to be given chance after chance.
“Imagine if the man he held a gun to had known he was a convicted killer? I must have been terrifying.
“My family get by day-to-day as normal as possible but my life stopped the day Tony was killed.
“I’m not the Michele I was before - I’m angry and frustrated and I want answers I will never have.
“I was the one given the life sentence.
“The picture I see of Tony every day in my mind is when I went to ID his body at the hospital and all these years later, it’s no easier.
“Gubb needs to be locked up for the rest of his life.
“He does not deserve another chance to be out on the streets and terrorise innocent people, destroying lives.
“I hope the judge will do the right thing.”
Gubb will be sentenced with his accomplice Mickey Murphy, of First Avenue, Canvey, on February 14 at Basildon Crown Court.
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