A CAMPAIGN for justice by the mother of a murder victim reaches a milestone this week with a conference to be addressed by leading law and order figures.

Theresa Cave, whose teenage son, Chris, was stabbed to death, has organised the meeting to bring pressure on the Government to insist a life sentence handed out to a killer means life imprisonment.

Solicitor General and Redcar MP Vera Baird will address the summit in the seaside town where 17-year-old Chris was stabbed four times, including once through the heart, in June 2003.

Retired judge David Bryant will also speak at the event, which is supported by Cleveland Police and will be attended by representatives from the Crown Prosecution Service, the Probation Service and victim support groups.

Sean Matson, 20, who killed Chris, is serving 12-and-a-half years for his murder.

Mrs Cave said: "A life sentence is not life. Some have come out on licence, only to kill again. It is the system which needs changing.

"There is all this violent crime because those who do it know they will just get sufficient time inside for things to cool down outside.

"I have organised the conference to firstly bring more awareness of the constant rise in violent crime and the issues that victims have surrounding it."

A delegate from the group Support After Murder And Manslaughter is travelling from Merseyside to attend the conference at the Coatham Bowl, Redcar, tomorrow.

Mrs Cave hopes Mrs Baird will take the call for tougher sentencing to the Government.

She said: "It is time the Government saw us not as grieving families, but people with common sense who want to see proper deterrents in place.

"It is my life's ambition; it is something I must do for my peace of mind for Chris. It is not something for me, but for the future of our children and our grandchildren."

Of her own heartbreak, she said: "It was four years ago, but for me it is as if it was yesterday."