Family and friends of an amateur footballer murdered on the A24 will mark the first anniversary of his death with a reunion at the spot where he was killed.

Flowers will be laid for William Buckingham, 21, from Morden, who was killed by Daniel Press as he walked along the A24 London Road, less than an hour after they had a fight at the Star Pub in Ewell in the early hours of September 27 last year.

His mother Deborah, from North Cheam, said: “A year has passed since my son Will’s tragic death. People tried to be kind and say the right things – ‘time is a great healer’ and ‘it will get better with time’, but I know as his mum the pain I’m feeling as the first anniversary of his death is approaching.

"I now know what it means when you say ‘my heart is broken’.

“The pain and anger of not being able to see or talk to my son again sometimes is too much to bear.

"Every day we talk and tell stories about Will - things he would say and do and people have been reminding me recently of what a great person he was and that makes me so proud as his mum.”

Press, 24, a father-of-two of Reigate Road, Epsom, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in jail with a minimum term of 12 years behind bars.

Press’ girlfriend, 24-year-old full-time mother Kerry Barnett from Carshalton, who was in the car at the time of the murder, was sentenced to 21-months imprisonment for giving police a false account of the event and a providing a false alibi.

His sister, 29-year-old barmaid Alyssa Press, from Epsom, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for hiding the car used in the murder in the garage of an unoccupied house owned by their parents, who were out of the country at the time. Both sentences were suspended for the second half of their terms.

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