Tag: grieving
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Grieving dad ‘tried to kill man with machete’ in ‘eye for an eye attack’ outside gym after his son, 18, drowned
A GRIEVING dad tried to kill a man he blamed for the death of his son in a brutal “eye for an eye” machete attack, a court heard yesterday.
Samson Price, 48, almost succeeded in killing Patrick Brown in the “pre planned” attack outside a gym in Northwich, Cheshire, in September 2021, Chester Crown Court was told.
![](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/arriving-hand-cuffs-chester-crown-792147998.jpg?strip=all&w=677)
Samson Price arrived at court in handcuffs[/caption]
![](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/machete-samson-s-son-murdered-792147907.jpg?strip=all&w=479)
Mr Brown was viciously attacked in broad daylight[/caption]
Price had stalked Mr Brown with a tracker for days because he blamed him for the death of his son Samson Jr., 18, who had drowned in a pond in Wigan in October 2020.
He lay in wait for Mr Brown outside the PureGym and rained five to six blows on his body in daylight as horrified gym users looked on.
Mr Brown, who was 20 at the time of the attack, was “millimetres from bleeding to death” but was saved by “sheer luck” and very prompt medical treatment after gym users called the emergency services.
Father-of-two Price was furious that Brown, who was 19 at the time, and two others were not charged with murder after Samson’s death the previous October.
They had been arrested on suspicion of murder after the friends had gone to a pond called Westwood Flash in Wigan to take the hallucinogenic drug LSD.
The jury was told that Brown said they had been camping and Samson Price Jr. had started behaving strangely and had gone missing.
He was later found drowned in the pond.
The jury was told that no charges were brought and police told the Price family in March 2021 that Samson’s death was an accident which left the family “very angry”.
Prosecutor Simon Mills told the court: “This was a pre-planned attack on Mr Brown as he came out of the gym where Price had been waiting with his weapon concealed on his person.
“He came very close to achieving his aim of killing Patrick Brown. He inflicted numerous blows to his head,face, back and arms. He may well have thought that he had done enough to kill Patrick Brown.
“He ran off and remained at large for three weeks before eventually handing himself in at a police station in Wakefield, West Yorks.
“The defendant had a motive to carry out this deadly attack. He blames Patrick Brown for the death of his son and he was angry that the police did not prosecute him over it.
“The prosecution contends that this was a case of an eye for an eye.”
Price accepts attacking Brown but denies he intended to kill him.
He has admitted grievous bodily harm with intent but has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, but the plea is not accepted by the prosecution.
Mr Mills said that Price and his wife Rosanna had “made it clear to the police that they considered the people who had been arrested were responsible for their son’s death”.
He said that the “understandable grief and raw emotion of a grieving mother and father” were shown in messages the couple had exchanged in the weeks before the attack.
Price told his wife that he considered himself to have died after his son’s death.
He wrote: “These feelings are hardest to deal with. Nothing will bring him back. It’s the senselessness, the unfairness and the injustice of it.”
His wife wrote: “We should be rowing and worrying about him going to all these festivals. I cannot get it into my head that he is not here and I will never hear his voice.”
Price added: “We have nothing left to look forward to. I consider myself to have died with Samson and I honestly don’t care what happens to me any more.”
His wife tried “to pull him round ” by reminding him that their daughter Atlanta needed him.
Price replied:” I am not going to harm myself. I will most likely try to harm others. I don’t think I can handle the anniversary. I can’t see me coping with that. Not that.”
The trial continues.
![](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/found-dead-lake-thought-murdered-792148005.jpg?strip=all&w=686)
Samson Price Jr. died after drowning in the pond[/caption]
Call for paid leave for parents grieving after a miscarriage
Grieving Kelsey Parker puts on a brave face for first Christmas without her late husband Tom
KELSEY Parker put on a brave face as she talked about “showing up” for her first Christmas without her late husband Tom.
The mum-of-two posted snaps of her with their two children Aurelia, two, and Bodhi, one.
![](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/grieving-kelsey-parker-puts-brave-784935056.jpg?strip=all&w=595)
Kelsey with her children on Christmas Day[/caption]
![](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/tom-parker-family-insta-722779600.jpg?strip=all&w=768)
Tom and Kelsey pictured with their children[/caption]
![](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/grieving-kelsey-parker-puts-brave-784935055.jpg?strip=all&w=595)
The mum-of-two said she was ‘showing up’[/caption]
Kelsey captioned it: “Showing up.”
It’s after she told of her struggle ahead of a “tough” time without him.
She wrote: “Merry Christmas everyone
“Thank you to everyone who has commented and sent messages this year. I do read them all and having so much support really means the world.
“If you’re missing someone today remember there’s no right or wrong way to be feeling. Do what’s right for you and be kind to yourself.”
Tom sadly died at the age of 33 after a brave battle with brain cancer in March this year.
Kelsey revealed her emotional reunion with Tom’s parents yesterday.
Kelsey recently spent some quality time with Tom’s mum Nigel and Noreen.
Taking to Instagram, the mum-of-one shared some pictures from their reunion.
Kelsey said: “We don’t always get to see Tom’s family as much as we’d like.
“As we showed last night, it’s important to keep our family close and to celebrate together; even though it’ll always be bittersweet that Tom isn’t there.
“Me & the kids headed north earlier this week to go to the panto with Tom’s parents.
“The kids loved it and so special to make happy memories with their grandparents. .”
Many rushed to the comments section to share the love at such a hard time of year for the family.
One said: “So lovely to see Noreen and Nigel with the kids, especially around Christmas time – such a beautiful photo and such a beautiful family. They are always in our deepest thoughts .”
A second added: “So lovely that you have a close relationship.”
“Such lovely pictures thinking of you all and all of toms family xx,” a third chimed in.
Kelsey and Tom met back in 2009 and soon started dating.
They tied the knot in 2018.
![](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/kelsey-parker-don-t-get-784817908.jpg?strip=all&w=744)
Kelsey had an emotional reunion with late husband Tom’s parents ahead of ‘tough’ first Christmas[/caption]
New Minecraft server helps grieving kids feel less alone
![A screenshot of the Minecraft server, ExperienceCraft, which is designed for grieving kids.](https://helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/024jtLXJlDWV9D6lrwYU9Uw/hero-image.png)
When Tina LaRosa logged into a new Minecraft server this summer, she was a novice to the virtual world-building game.
But the 16-year-old high school sophomore was there for an important reason: to help launch a pilot of ExperienceCraft, a Minecraft server designed specifically with and for grieving youth between the ages of seven and 14.
The pilot was the product of a partnership between Experience Camps, a nonprofit that offers a one-week overnight summer camp for children who’ve experienced the death of a parent, sibling, or primary caregiver, and Connected Camps, an online learning platform powered by youth Minecraft experts. ExperienceCraft doesn’t try to mimic the summer camp, which is attended by a thousand youth annually. Instead, its goal is to provide an opportunity for grieving children to connect year-round as they play Minecraft.
The project was personal for LaRosa. Her mother died in 2019, and she attended Experience Camps in 2021 for the first time. LaRosa was invited by Experience Camps to join the organization’s youth advisory board for the pilot, in order to help shape the server. She lobbied for the server to become a space that focused on fun and connection while embodying Experience Camp values like kindness, respect, and being yourself. Everyone involved in creating the server had a similar goal, says Courtney Dubin, chief program officer of Experience Camps. (The project is supported by a $100,000 grant from the New York Life Foundation.)
Prior to the launch, ExperienceCraft invited hundreds of kids to join. About 60 kids showed up for the pilot. Upon entering the server, they encountered floating text outlining community norms, like being kind and respectful. Players were ushered into a central hub from which they could warp to other areas, like the memorial garden, where they could honor their loved one with unique builds; a survival area for facilitating teamwork and collaboration as they test their Minecraft skills in high-stakes situations; and a creative world for executing imaginative designs by themselves or with others. They could also communicate with each other on an affiliated Discord server for voice and chat messaging.
![The colorful entrance to the memorial garden in ExperienceCraft.](https://helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/024jtLXJlDWV9D6lrwYU9Uw/images-2.fill.size_2000x1051.v1671054715.png)
Credit: ExperienceCraft
“A lot of ExperienceCraft, kind of the beauty of it, is there’s no real pressure that it’s a grief community playing Minecraft,” says LaRosa. “Obviously everybody knows that fact, but we pushed the idea of ‘just make it fun first’ and focus on the connections and friendships that could be made.”
LaRosa says that peer relationships with someone who understands what it’s like to endure grief as a child or teen can offer comfort and healing. In the U.S., an estimated 5.6 million children will lose a parent or sibling by age 18. At least 250,000 kids, many of them Black, Indigenous, and children of color, have lost a primary or secondary caregiver as a result of COVID-19.
The scale of youth grief can’t be matched by the available resources, whether that’s camps, nonprofit programming, or counseling. That’s why Experience Camps saw Minecraft, which has 600 million registered users, as a way to meet children where they are — on one of the world’s most popular video games. As ExperienceCraft expands and welcomes more players to the server, its designers aim to build on early successes and reach grieving youth who might otherwise feel alone.
Building a Minecraft server for grieving kids
Katie Salen Tekinbaş, Connected Camps’ co-founder and chief designer, says she wanted to create a sense of belonging for players who might feel isolated in their grief: “What would it mean to provide a space for them where they really felt connected and a sense of belonging to a community that they had a chance to help develop and grow over time?”
Drawing on feedback from LaRosa and other youth advisory board members, as well as Connected Camps’ insights from creating a thriving server, Salen Tekinbaş and her design team were very intentional about ExperienceCraft’s features.
First, players’ parents or caregivers complete a registration process that includes information about their loss. While moderators don’t verify those details because of privacy concerns, they do confirm the identity of the child to ensure no one is entering the server with a false or fake identity. The server is safelisted, which means a parent’s email is required to join and players must be approved by an administrator. Players also remain anonymous. When they arrive in ExperienceCraft, a thorough tutorial outlines expectations and invites them to be a “great community member.”
The server has important protections for players in ExperienceCraft. Volunteer and paid moderators have undergone background checks and received crisis and grief training. Some are teens or college-age mentors from Experience Camps and Connected Camps. They can view all commands and messages in real time, including those sent privately on both the Minecraft and Discord servers.
![A grassy area with signs and buildings in the memorial garden of ExperienceCraft.](https://helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/024jtLXJlDWV9D6lrwYU9Uw/images-1.fill.size_2000x1051.v1671044320.png)
Credit: ExperienceCraft
To further create a sense of safety, players can’t join each other’s Zen spaces without an invitation. Players also can’t edit someone’s build in the memorial garden, which means that deeply personal expressions of grief can’t be accidentally or purposely violated. In the survival and creative worlds, moderators can see who built something and who altered it, making it easy to hold players accountable for any hurtful or destructive behavior. If a player acts out, a moderator is trained to take them to an area named The Resort for a cool-down period. The idea is to address the emotions behind their actions rather than severely sanctioning them. There is a protocol for moderators to reach out to a player’s caregiver if necessary. So far, moderators have seen few conflicts so far.
LaRosa says the guardrails and clearly stated norms have created a safe space for players to have fun, even as the topic of grief surfaces in unexpected ways. Her favorite part of ExperienceCraft are the build battles where players get a set amount of time to construct something on the same theme. In one such contest, a player decorated their treehouse with purple flowers to honor their loved one’s favorite colors. LaRosa says the participants were friendly and supportive of each other’s creations.
In a recent holiday campfire challenge, players built virtual objects like a snowman and flames that turned into a house. In the memorial garden, one player constructed a dining room table set in memory of having a sit-down dinner. Sometimes players will talk about what they’ve built with the group or in a private chat. Other times, it’s cathartic for players to simply share what they’ve created without going into details.
“Not unlike camp itself, it’s a great mixture of fun but also opportunities to express that grief if you’d like to,” says Fox Besch, a 17-year-old Experience Camps participant who joined the server as a volunteer during the pilot.
Opening the doors of ExperienceCraft
Besch, also a member of Experience Camp’s youth advisory board, is eager to expand the server’s reach. It’s currently open Friday through Sunday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET. A longtime Minecraft player who’s spent time in several other servers, including the popular Hypixel, Besch says ExperienceCraft offers something special to youth grappling with grief.
Ultimately, Dubin would like to see thousands of players join ExperienceCraft, but there are practical barriers, even if the server is arguably more accessible than an annual sleep-away camp. Players need access to Minecraft Java or Bedrock editions (which costs as much as $29.99), and a Mac or PC computer, or a tablet, iPad, or Playstation, XBox, or Switch gaming console. Phones and Chromebooks cannot run the necessary software to participate. Discord software, which is used for simultaneous voice and text chat, can be run on most devices. Of course, players need a reliable internet connection, too.
Since reaching children regardless of their family’s income and location is a priority for Experience Camps, Dubin says the nonprofit is identifying youth programs that serve bereaved children and can provide technical resources and in-person support that some players might not have.
One promising example is how the advisory board and pilot included players from the Center for Grieving Children, a program of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Fox Valley in Wisconsin. Erin Hollister, the center’s director, says the players benefited from the peer support aspect of ExperienceCraft. Hollister also emphasizes the importance of restoring a grieving child’s sense of ordinariness following a traumatic experience over which they had no control. Minecraft feels normal to kids, because they’ve played that game or another like it, she says.
![A moderator built this memorial for a loved one they lost during the pilot.](https://helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/024jtLXJlDWV9D6lrwYU9Uw/images-3.fill.size_2000x1051.v1671054842.png)
Credit: ExperienceCraft
Hollister and a volunteer were trained as moderators. She believes that any expansion should include support from adults who’ve undergone background checks and have appropriate training to understand how grief affects children.
Experience Camps is currently working with Boys & Girls Clubs of America to explore rolling out the server in clubs across the country. ExperienceCraft will soon launch in the Boys & Girls Club of Menasha, also in Wisconsin, which will offer a sense of how easily other clubs can access the server. Players will use club computers and log into ExperienceCraft during the club’s programming hours. Additionally, Experience Camps is identifying partners in smaller school-based programs that serve grieving children.
Dubin recalls a recent conversation about how alone bereaved kids can feel, particularly during the holidays.
“For some kids, there is nothing out there,” says Dubin, noting that camp may not be open when they need it, or a counselor may not be available. “But if [ExperienceCraft] is here, they can go here, and be around other people who get it.”
You can find a guide for navigating grief at Experience Camps’ website. If you’re a caregiver or child dealing with a mental health crisis, you can reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988; the Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860; or the Trevor Project at 866-488-7386. If you need to talk to someone, text “START” to Crisis Text Line at 741-741. Contact the NAMI HelpLine at 1-800-950-NAMI, Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. ET, or email info@nami.org. If you don’t like the phone, consider using the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Chat at crisischat.org. Here is a list of international resources.
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I’m grieving for my dad but am bedding my stepmum’s fella
DEAR DEIDRE: MY stepmum didn’t hang about after my dad died and has already moved on to a new boyfriend.
I think her behaviour is disrespectful — so I don’t feel in the least bit bad that I’m now having sex with him, too.
![](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/LEAD-She-is-29-and-having-an-affair-with-her-step-mums-new-boyfriend.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
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I’m a woman of 29 and Dad was only 61 when he died of cancer two years ago.
In those last few months, my stepmum and I made sure we put everything into creating happy memories with him.
She is 58 and came into my life when I was 14. Although it took me a while to accept her, we learned to get on.
After Dad died we both stayed in the family home and I really appreciated her support as we grieved.
MORE FROM DEAR DEIDRE
Then, about ten months after he died, she started going out a lot and joined a fitness club.
I noticed she hardly mentioned him any more and seemed impatient when I shared how much I was missing Dad.
Then one night I saw her getting out of a car and giving the male driver a long kiss.
My heart hit the floor and I honestly felt like she was cheating on Dad. Within two months this man started staying over and, although I wanted to hate him, when I met him I understood the attraction.
He is 56, into cycling and very knowledgeable.
One evening my stepmum was late returning from work so me and this man sat chatting.
He asked me lots of questions about Dad and said he sounded like a great guy.
A few weeks later, while my stepmum was working away, he came around to pick up clothes.
We ended up sitting at the kitchen table again, only this time we polished off a couple of bottles of wine.
We then had sex right there before going upstairs to my room and having sex again.
Now, whenever my stepmum is away, he comes around to “pick up some clothes” — which is our code for sex. I only question myself when I think of Dad.
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DEIDRE SAYS: The fact you are uncomfortable thinking about what your dad would say suggests you know your behaviour is out of order.
Your stepmum has a right to move on and doesn’t deserve to be betrayed by you or her new boyfriend.
There is no acceptable time limit on grieving for a loved one.
I’m sending you my Bereavement support pack so you can consider getting help to move on.
Please also consider if your attraction to this man is because he represents a father figure for the man you miss so much.
Read More on The Sun
Put an end to this damaging affair, otherwise someone is going to get seriously hurt.
Tell this man this was a mistake and then focus on dealing with your own grief so you can get out more and meet someone who is available.