I will find my son's killer, vows mother of Richard Deakin
The mother of murder victim Richard Deakin today said she would not rest until the 'Mr Big' who ordered her son's killing was behind bars.
Police today spoke of their disappointment at the verdict and revealed they are not pursuing anyone else in relation to Mr Deakin's killing.
Anslow, from Tipton, escaped from a prison van and fled to Northern Cyprus while on remand for a major drugs conspiracy and after being charged with murder.
He is currently serving 29 years in prison – 22 years for the drugs offences and more than seven years for the escape – but was unanimously cleared by jurors of being involved in the murder. Contract killers David Harrison – Anslow's uncle, who fired the sawn-off shotgun that killed Mr Deakin in 2010 – and getaway driver Darryl Dickens are already serving life sentences after being convicted two years ago.
But speaking exclusively to the Express & Star today, heartbroken mother Carol Deakin said she would not rest until whoever ordered her son's murder was behind bars. "The case, speaking as Richard's mother, will never come to a close until the person that paid the money is sent to prison," she said.
"Forget everybody else, the gunman, the driver, to me the person who should be behind bars is the person who actually ordered it. I just want justice for Richard. I want justice for Richard's girls so that when they grow up and read about what's happened they know justice has been done.
"I will not settle until Richard has got the justice he deserves."
Harrison was sentenced to 37 years after a trial at Birmingham Crown Court in December 2012, while Dickens got 30. Mr Deakin, aged 27, was murdered just minutes after his fiancée Megan had left the family home in Meadway Street, Chasetown, to take their two young daughters to school. His murder shocked the community and sparked a huge police appeal for information, which included a feature on BBC's Crimewatch programme.
Mrs Deakin described her son as 'polite and loveable' and said she relives the moment she found out he had died every single day. "Richard was everything to me, he was my boy, he as my life, he was my inspiration for getting out of bed," she said. "Losing Rich was the worst thing that ever happened to me in my life.
"You get up every day and the first thing you think about is your kids, what are they doing today, are they okay, are they coming for dinner, and I don't have that anymore.
"I never did anything in my life without telling Richard , and the thing I miss most of all is that daily contact with him.
"At one time I would eat the food that Richard would eat, even if I didn't like it, because I was thinking about him constantly. It doesn't get any easier." Anslow, aged 33, was officially Britain's most wanted man after being sprung from a prison van by men armed with sledgehammers and a shotgun in January 2012. He had been charged with Mr Deakin's murder and was on remand at HMP Hewell awaiting trial for conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis. He was sentenced for the drugs charge in his absence in 2012 while still on the run.
Anslow was deported in March 2013 after being arrested in Northern Cyprus for immigration offences, before pleading guilty to conspiracy to escape last September, receiving a sentence of seven years and two months in November. During his murder trial he successfully argued that frequent phone contact between him and Harrison around the time of the murder was due to their joint involvement in drug dealing, for which Harrison was given a 12-year sentence.
