Mum’s tribute as tragic Wesley comes of age

Dec 31 2007 by Audrey Barton, The Journal

A GRIEVING mother raised a glass in an emotional graveside tribute to mark her son’s 21st birthday.

Liz Neailey cracked open two bottles of bubbly to celebrate her first-born’s birthday on Saturday.

Tragic Wesley was just 11 when he was murdered by a paedophile and his body was dumped in a remote country lane.

But Liz and Wesley’s younger brother Robert, along with his doting grandfather Harry Hammond, celebrated his coming of age by visiting him in his final resting place. The 42-year-old, of Arthur’s Hill, Newcastle, said: “It’s hard and milestones like this make the pain even harder to bear than usual.

“We took two bottles of bubbly, like we did for his 18th birthday.

“We took one down to Elswick Cemetery where Wesley is buried, opposite my mum, and all take a swig and toast him before pouring the rest over his grave.

“And I took the other one to the spot where his body was found.”

Wesley was lured from outside his home on June 5, 1998, into the clutches of convicted sex offender Dominic McKilligan, then 19, who killed him and dumped his body in a ditch in the village of Healy, Northumberland.