Mike Hall, grandfather of Ashleigh Hall describes family's 'unimaginable loss

David Roberts spoke to her grandfather about their grief and how the community has helped them cope with their unimaginable loss.

FOR Mike Hall, it’s the silence that has affected him the most. Any moment he expects to hear his boisterous teenage granddaughter burst through the door and turn the stereo up full blast.

He even misses her teasing him about his Mark Knopfler CDs.

As he leafs through the photo album of Ashleigh growing up, he laughs at the memories – her love of dressing up at Halloween; playing with her three younger sisters; the last day at school with her friends – all looking to the future, with their uniforms coated in signatures.

But then there are the photos that are missing.

Her graduation from college; her wedding; the christenings – it is the thought of these that brings tears to Mike’s eyes.

“She should be looking forward to having a full life, you never expect to bury a granddaughter,” he says.

“I keep expecting her to ring up and ask if she can stay round, or have a lift somewhere or to borrow a tenner.”

Ever since the 17-year-old’s body was found in a field outside Sedgefield in County Durham, Mike said he and his family, especially Ashleigh’s mother, Andrea, have been living in a daze.

“You dream that impossible dream,” he says. “To wake up and think it was a dream but in reality it wasn’t and then the bubble bursts.

“There is not a day goes by where I have not had a little cry just thinking of her.

“I just feel empty and completely washed out, there’s nothing there.

“It is the same with the rest of the family, especially Andrea, if it wasn’t for the three little ones – they’re the only thing that are keeping her going.”

To Andrea, Ashleigh was more than a daughter, she was a best friend, and to her sisters Olivia, six, Ellie, four, and Evie, one, she was like a second mother.

The Darlington College childcare student looked after them and helped bring them up.

“Some nights Andrea used to go to bed early with the young ones,” remembers Mike. “Ashleigh used to be over the road at her friend’s house.

“When Ashleigh used to come in, Andrea would hear the front door shut and know that everybody was safe.

“She was saying to me the other day, ‘now I lie down and I realise that I’m the only adult in the house’.”

Despite the unimaginable despair that has beset the Hall family over the past few weeks, there have been some moments which have raised their spirits.

Not least the incredible support from the community.

Neighbours and friends have been constantly round at the house.

Ashleigh’s friends have been a source of solace to the family, including one who regularly helps with her younger sisters and read out a tribute to her at the crematorium service.

At Ashleigh’s funeral, the vicar let the family use St Cuthbert’s Church for free, the Dolphin Centre donated their premises for the wake and Darlington College provided the catering.

Even the local youths, who regularly hung around outside the family home in Branksome, were enlisted to guard the house and chase away unwelcome journalists.

An indication of the level of support was a bulb planting in Darlington, organised by local councillor Jenny Chapman, in memory of Ashleigh.

“We turned up to it and there were only about three people there and my heart sank,” says Mike. “We started planting the bulbs and then all of a sudden cars started parking up, people started coming over.

“We planted the bulbs in Ashleigh’s initials and we had some spare, so someone suggested that we plant them outside Ashleigh’s house.

“Everybody walked up there, we planted them and then I asked if we could have a moment’s silence.

“It did us all a world of good.”

At Ashleigh’s funeral, hundreds of teenagers turned out to pay their respects.

Even Mike admits he was taken aback at the scale of his granddaughter’s popularity.

However, it was at the service that he realised he could not let her die in vain.

“It was going up to the church gates and seeing all of them, all these students, all of them crying,” he says.

“It’s them we have to get the message across to. They have shared our grief, and we don’t want to have to share anyone else’s grief.

“I don’t want another family to go through what we’ve gone through. We don’t want Ashleigh to go in vain.

“It’s all about education.

It’s about thinking before you meet anyone for the first time.

“Parents nag you, but it’s all for one thing – they love you.”

Now, because of one mistake, his family will be spending this Christmas without a daughter and granddaughter.

“We’ve got be strong for the sake of the three young ones,” Mike says. “But in the back of your mind you’re thinking that Ashleigh should be here opening her presents and being cheeky.

“She was so bubbly, she never shut up.

“Now it’s quiet – too quiet.”