15/12/06 - Justice for my murdered son
By David Giles, Essex Evening Echo
After sitting in court for 11 weeks, watching her son's killer on trial, Beverley Boshell finally feels she can start living a life again. Mrs Boshell, who lives in the Basildon area, said although her son was no angel, killer Ricky Percival deserved every bit of the 26-year minimum sentence he was handed.
Percival's friend Kevin Walsh was also jailed for three-and-a-half years for providing a false alibi. The tearful mum, who has been waiting for justice for nearly six years, said: "Worst of all, I have had to watch them sit in the dock looking so relaxed and like they don't care at all about what they did.
"As far as I am concerned, they deserve everything they get. I can now go to where Dean's ashes are and tell him it is over. "He can rest properly now and I finally have a sense of relief and can perhaps start living a life again."
Mrs Boshell said she always knew her son wasn't perfect, and details of shoplifting, burglaries and car thefts emerged during the trial. But she said there was another side to the 24-year-old, of Elmsleigh Drive, Leigh.
Mrs Boshell told the Echo: "He loved the film Grease. I can't watch it any more because it reminds me too much of him. "When he was a child, he was always the one who wanted to help me out and do things around the house."
Her voice lowered as she spoke of how her son became embroiled in a world of drugs, guns and notorious figures in the Essex gangland scene. She said: "He was always an attention-seeker and loved to be the centre of attention. That is why he always wanted to hang out with the big guys."He was never a cruel or horrible person. He was a very loving boy."
Mr Boshell was born and grew up in Basildon with his mother. After getting in with the wrong crowd at school, he moved from Essex to Leeds. However, he returned to Southend and, following a stint in Chelmsford Prison for burglary, he became friends with Damon Alvin.
On the night Mr Boshell was murdered, it was claimed in court that Alvin and Percival were planning to rob a cannabis factory, using Mr Boshell as the driver. Instead of the planned raid, he was taken to the allotment sites and shot three times at close range.
An emotional Mrs Boshell said: "I remember when I found out. The police came and told me and I was on my own before my mum came round. I had to identify him by a tattoo on his arm. "That was nearly six years ago. It has been so hard knowing that no one had been brought to justice.
The court case has been very hard, particularly the pathologist's report, describing his injuries. "But it has been six years and, although nothing will bring Dean back, I'm just relieved the case is over now."
