'The kid had nothing, why take his life?'

The devastated mum of a teenager stabbed to death in his own flat after he 'refused to sell drugs' has spoken out in a bid to find his killers.

Kyle Whitley was just 18-years-old when he was killed on April 13, 2020. He had just become a dad for the first time.

It is believed he was confronted in his flat in Litherland by three people, before he was fatally stabbed in the chest. He was found collapsed in an alleyway. Less than an hour later he died in hospital.

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In the four years since his death, six people have been arrested in connection with Kyle's murder, the Liverpool Echo reports. But no-one has been charged or convicted.

Now his mum Lisa Whitley has spoken out in a bid to urge anyone who knows anything about her son's death to 'be brave' and 'speak up'. She directly appealed to the mothers of anyone involved to 'step forward and change the streets'.

Speaking from her Widnes flat, Ms Whitley described how Kyle had just moved into his own flat. She said he 'had nothing', and was killed because he 'didn't want to sell drugs'.

"Kyle was only starting out in his flat - he had been there for six months", the 45-year-old said. "The kid had nothing. Why take his life? Because he said he didn't want them in the flat and didn't want to sell their drugs.

"They stabbed him for that. I would love to speak to their mums and ask 'do you like having killers as sons?'"

Ms Whitley added: "Any mother should step forward and change the streets. Until we do, nothing will change. Knife crime, gun crime, it needs to stop. It has to stop.

"Someone has to be brave enough, not just me as Kyle's mother, but mothers in general." She said: "I just don't get how they can walk around, getting the chance to see their kids growing up.

"Kyle is never going to get to walk his son to school, or go to parents' evening or sports day. They will get that - why should they be privileged with that?"

Detectives probing the case have previously indicated that they believed Kyle might have been exploited by an organised crime group at the time of his death. Ms Whitley told the ECHO that the three suspects who were in his flat on the day, who allegedly were trying to pressure the teenager to sell crack cocaine, had gone to his house two days before his death.

Ms Whitley said Kyle had called her that night to say they were banging at his door and she had told him to turn off the lights and not answer. She said Kyle was new to the area and had always been keen to make friends. She told the ECHO: "I don't blame him for wanting to have friends.

"I don't believe he knew what he was getting into. I didn't teach him that, I shaded him from that world."

Ms Whitley said on the day of Kyle's murder she was in Manchester and her partner got a phone call from someone who lived on her son's street. She said: "I remember the day - I dropped to the ground.

"My partner was just repeating out loud what they were saying on the phone, he didn't realise what they were saying. All I heard was 'Kyle has been stabbed'.

"I just dropped. I said he's gone, you can feel it as a mum. He must have been so scared, three people on one.

"You're cowardly if you pick up a weapon. That's just cowardly, mate."

Ms Whitley said her, Kyle and his sister Molly had always been close. She said: "He was always attached to my hip.

"As a kid he wasn't accepted, he was different - same as me. We handle things differently with our ADHD, we would just take ourselves off."

Ms Whitley said Kyle was taken into care during a time when she struggled with her own mental health. But in the years before Kyle's death they had been spending more and more time with each other.

She said: "Having my kids gave me a purpose. I had been in the care system most of my life.

"My kids have put up a lot with my mental health and have suffered with it, but they adored me. Kyle and I just liked to chill, we would sit in silence and the main thing was just being with each other.

"Don't get me wrong, he was the bane of my life. He was a pain in the a***, but I would have all of that back any day.

"There was an advert the other day to do with the army and the fella stands at the station and says 'I'll never have another go at that kid as long as he comes back in one piece'. I just cried when I heard that. If he was here I would never ever tell him off again.

"Just as long as he was here. I had already buried a kid 27/28 years ago. I certainly didn't need to bury another one who I had been with for 18 years."

Ms Whitley said Kyle had always wanted to be a dad. She told the ECHO that his son, now five, will never get to know his dad. She said: "My heart was ripped out, my first grandkid.

"All I can do now is step up into Kyle's shoes - and as a nan. Do you know how hard it is to look at that kid and know that he will never meet his dad? He talks to the sky.

"He's talking to himself like Kyle is there. He's such a lovely kid. I see Kyle in him. I see myself as a baby in him. If you put a picture of me next to the baby it's a spitting image."

Urging members of the Litherland community to come forward with the vital information that could crack the case, she told the ECHO: "Kyle deserves justice. It's not about me.

"It's about a little boy, a sister and a lad that has been taken away from that. Speak up. Be brave enough and strong enough to stand up. I am standing up.

"There is just too much that people know and aren't saying. You can do it privately, who is going to know?

"I just don't get why people won't come forward. Kyle was in the right place at the right time, he was in his own gaff."

Speaking regarding the continuation of gun and knife crime on Merseyside, she said: "If people don't speak up, the cycle will continue. It already has. How many murders have there been since Kyle? That little girl shot for nothing. Is it really worth it?

"My heart goes out to the families, but they've had their justice. When is it Kyle's turn?"

A spokesperson for Merseyside Police Serious Crime Review Unit said: "It has been more than four years since Kyle was fatally stabbed, and his family continue to grieve for his loss and want justice. At the time we arrested six people in connection with Kyle's murder, and a number of lines of enquiry have been investigated.

"Sadly, no suspect has yet been convicted of Kyle's murder and our investigation to bring the person responsible continues. No murder case is ever closed and it is regularly reviewed and any new lines of enquiry examined.

"On the day Kyle was murdered the country was in its first national lockdown. However, there will have been people who were out and about in the area who may have seen or heard something, and we appeal for them to contact us so we can investigate.

"This could be a significant detail which could lead to the arrest of his killers. Loyalties and allegiances can change over time and we believe that there are people who know the person responsible for his death.

"I would urge them to come forward and help us to get closure for his family. Any piece of information could be the key to progressing this investigation, however trivial you think it may be, so we can act upon any information given to us."

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