'I will fight for justice 'til the day I die': A murdered boy, his family's pain and the missing piece of the puzzle

13.02.2022 - 22:55 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

The families of Halton McCollin, Louis Brathwaite and Giuseppe Gregory were each robbed of a much loved son by gun crime on the streets of Manchester. The killings were linked, and 14 years, two of those families - Halton's and Louis's - still haven't seen anyone brought to justice.In this, the fourth of a series of special features, M.E.N chief reporter Neal Keeling looks at the devastating effect of gun crime, through the eyes of an ordinary Manchester family.

When her brother was shot Renay was just eleven years old.

The pain of losing him has never subsided.

She's now 25, and still remembers Louis' vitality.

When he died after being injured in a gun attack in a Withington betting shop, the second of three lives lost in a cycle of shootings, Louis' left behind four siblings - an older brother, Jerome, and sisters, Janeece, Renay, and Monique.

"To know and to feel that someone with such a good energy and good soul was taken away from us still hasn’t sunk in even 'til this day 14 years on," Renay says now, talking to the Manchester Evening News.

"He brought smiles to all of us and his infectious energy brought joy to anyone who surrounded him.... what I would do to see that smile one last time!

"To think that nowadays, having a child, you have to worry about the school they go to, or the people their friends are...to be on edge, constantly, about what could potentially happen in a society that we shouldn’t have to live in.

"The senseless killing of young people has now become a hobby, as they feel it is so easy to commit a crime and get away with it.

"I lost my brother at a young age, but if society chooses to carry on the way it has, families will continue to lose sons and daughters, cousins or friends."

Renay has to