Man whose mum was murdered by her boyfriend when he was just EIGHT speaks about devastating tragedy
A MAN whose mum was murdered by her boyfriend when he was just eight-years-old has spoken of how difficult the festive period is after such a tragedy.
Max Rathbone, 28, has said he feels "left out" as families get together at Christmas, leaving a stinging reminder of his own loss.
has spoken out to raise awareness for The Sun's Smiles at Christmas campaign, which is raising money for Women's Aid.
Women's Aid helps support women and children who have been affected by domestic violence.
Dad-of-0ne Max said: "All Christmases are pretty tough - everywhere you look its just families.
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"Everyone is together. All you see on social media is people talking about how much they love their family.
"It's great, but it's not a brilliant reminder of what's happened to you. That's something I really felt when I was younger."
Max and his brother Louie, who was just six at the time, were staying at their dad's when their mum Kathy Dolman, 32. was murdered by her abusive boyfriend.
He said: "After my mum and dad split up, my mum started seeing another guy who was violent and had a temper on him.
"My brother and I went to my dad's for the weekend and he killed her.
"I remember going downstairs and there were police there talking to my dad. I'll never forget when he told my brother and I what had happened."
Max, from Bromsgrove, near Birmingham, says a lot of the violence was kept from him and his brother, but he remembers his mum having black eyes and other injuries.
He said: "She would say she had walked into something or fallen over. I had no idea.
"I remember once she told me a crocodile had come up from the toilet and she had to fight it and chuck it out the house. I was little and believed it, I had no idea at the time."
Max says his younger brother was better able to cope with the tragedy as he was younger.
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He said: "I was old enough to understand what had happened, but not old enough to deal with it in any helpful way.
"It hit me pretty hard - but I guess there's no good age for something like that to happen."
Max and his brother would spend every Christmas with their dad, but he would always wake up thinking about his mum.
He said: "Obviously when there are lots of presents you get distracted, but it always comes creeping back.
"It's a completely different dynamic when there's one very important person missing."
Max is giving his full support to The Sun's Smiles at Christmas campaign, and says it is "amazing" readers are giving toys to children who need them.
Thinking about children who have lost a mum to domestic violence and also may not have a dad, he said: "I can't imagine not having another parent there, it would be terrible."
Max, , raised £3,700 for Women's Aid himself with a fundraising tattoo event earlier this year.
He said: "The best thing about doing it was not many people knew about my mum and what I'd been through.
"I came out and spoke about it and had a massive outpouring of people who had experienced similar things - although maybe not to the same extreme."
He added: "Going public made me realise a lot of other people go through this, it's not just you.
"It was really upsetting to find out how common domestic abuse actually is, but it's good for everyone to realise they're not the only one."
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