Despair of widow left to grieve

More than six years have passed since milkman Ronnie Kettridge was robbed and murdered in an ambush in Sheffield – and his grieving widow admits her faith in the Government to tackle youth crime has gone.

Although one of the killers remains in prison, the other was released after only two-and-a-half years and Mrs Kettridge, 62, believes the country is no closer to solving the problem than it was when her husband died in 2003.

Now, as another painful year without him begins, she fears only draconian measures will deter young offenders from pursuing a life of crime.

"The people who killed Ronnie were kids," she said. "If they want to kill innocent people or go around with a knife, send them out to Afghanistan in a unit all by themselves and let them find out about life the hard way. I don't know what the answers to this problem are, but I know it won't be solved by academia.

"The authorities have got to pull their fingers out and get tougher because, every time I turn on the TV, I see another case like mine."

Mr and Mrs Kettridge had been married for only five weeks before the murder. They had known each other less than three years, but their relationship developed quickly.

He proposed marriage three times before she finally accepted, on a holiday in Skegness. The couple were due to return there for a short break on the day of the killing.

The events of April 5, 2003, remain clear in Mrs Kettridge's mind.

"We wanted to go to Skegness later, so Ronnie set off for work earlier that morning. A little later I got a phone call. It was the dairy saying he hadn't arrived.

"I asked them if they were sure he hadn't parked his car up and taken his float, because he would sometimes do that, and they agreed to check. I rang him twice. When he didn't answer the first time I assumed he must be busy. He would always answer the second time, but he didn't and I started to worry so I rang the police."

Mrs Kettridge called the police twice and contacted one of Mr Kettridge's friends, a mechanic, to ask whether he had broken down on his way to work, but the answer was no.

She remembers getting "more and more anxious" after the dairy called back to confirm her husband had not arrived.

She said: "I knew something was not right. I was trying to hold my act together while telling the police on the phone that there was something wrong, and then the highways police were at my door.

"I was trembling. They said they had found a body and that they thought it was my husband.

"I remember saying, 'I told him to be careful, he's had a bloody heart attack, hasn't he?' but they couldn't say. The next thing I knew, the murder squad were on their way."

Mr Kettridge had not suffered a heart attack. He had been stabbed four times in the face and head and once in the chest.

The 56-year-old had been driving to work along Sheffield's Prince of Wales Road as 16-year-old Adele Silkstone lay in wait, intent on stealing a car.

Moments after Silkstone activated a pelican crossing to make Mr Kettridge stop, her 18-year-old boyfriend Jamie Osborne emerged from behind a bus shelter, dressed as a Ninja warrior and wielding a 11-and-a-half-inch Samurai-style dagger.

Mr Kettridge was stabbed and dragged out of his car. Osborne and Silkstone took his wallet, containing 30, and drove off, leaving him to die in the road.

His widow said: "Young people who kill should be made to see the body like I had to. They should be shown it and told 'That's what you've done', because it was unbelievable.

"They do their very best, the police, to tell you what it's going to be like, and you know how bad it's going to be, but your mind doesn't take in the

words and you can't comprehend it.

"My husband was laid out on a slab and it was an absolute bloody nightmare. We are talking about the love of my life."

Osborne pleaded guilty to murder and was jailed for life. Silkstone was convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to eight years behind bars, later reduced to five on appeal.

"She was out after two-and-a- half years," Mrs Kettridge said, "I tried to stop it, complaining to the Probation Service and all that, but offenders seem to get what they want. She helped him move Ronnie out of his car and she left him to die like a dog.

"The system needs a shake-up because this murder has certainly affected my impression of young people.

"I will never go near a gang of young people any more; there are good youths out there but, to me, they are few and far between.

"That's what this ordeal has left me with. All that comes up in my mind is the sight of Ronnie laid out on that slab."

Mr Kettridge's death had a huge impact on his family. Mrs Kettridge said everyone had been affected, but particularly her sister Tracey, who has Down's Syndrome and is now in a nursing home after suffering a stroke in December 2008.

"She absolutely adored Ronnie," Mrs Kettridge said. "He treated her and she treated him like he was her dad. She was a bridesmaid at our wedding."

Mrs Kettridge said longer sentences should be given to young offenders to reflect the misery their crimes cause others.

"I relive some part of Ronnie's murder every day and I've shouted from the rooftops. Does anybody hear us? Do they heck. I don't think the Government listens to people like me.

"Osborne is kept inside with my taxes and I don't believe in capital punishment, but I certainly believe in the American way of jailing.

"When Americans commit a crime, they are put away for a long time; here, it's a soft touch all the time and it's the victim who is made to feel guilty.

"We suffer the consequences."