'˜You were very brave to take the death you did': Mother's tribute after Wainfleet man's killers are jailed

Margaret McDonald said that every day she lights a candle to keep the cherished memory her son, Wayne Baxter, alive.

She told the Standard: “I think wherever he may be now he is in a better place. No-one can hurt him again.”

The couple who killed Mr Baxter following an altercation at funeral wake were jailed for 10 years on Monday.

Sarah Booth, 37, and Sean Booth, 26, both of Croft Bank, Wainfleet, admitted manslaughter on the grounds of loss of control on March 2, last year. Their pleas of not guilty to murder were accepted by the prosecution.

Mrs McDonald, who lives in Belfast, said: “Wayne was such a loving person. He loved his family and coming over to see us. The phone never stopped ringing when he was coming over. I’d get a call saying ‘mummy, your blue-eyed boy is coming’.

“We used to watch true crime on the television and wonder how people can be so cruel to another human being.

“When it happens to you, it’s unbelievable. I miss him so much.

“I go to bingo and am happy for about an hour and then I go home and it all comes flooding back. But I speak to him and say ‘Hello big fellow – you were very brave to take the death you did.’.

“I look at their faces (Sarah and Sean Booth) every night. They were animals.”

Wayne’s sister Anne Faloon said the family had planned a 70th birthday celebration last year for Mrs McDonald. She said: “Wayne was his mummy’s golden boy. He was going to come over for her 70th birthday. Instead my mummy got his ashes for her 70th birthday.

“We were so close. When he came into a room and smiled his face lit up. We loved hearing his stories. He was very generous and had a heart of gold.”

She said she didn’t think the sentence Sarah and Sean Booth got after their trial was long enough.

“Ten years is nothing. It’s a slap on the wrist. They (Sarah and Sean Booth) should hold their head so low and never hold it up again.”