A MOTHER spoke tearfully yesterday of her relief at seeing the start of work to demolish the flat where her son died.

Theresa Cave, whose son, Chris, was stabbed in the flat at Burnmoor Close, Redcar, east Cleveland, last June, has been campaigning for months for the property to be demolished.

She collected more than 480 signatures in one night calling for the flat and neighbouring flats to be pulled down.

Now, Coast and Country Housing, which owns the flat, has started work stripping it down.

Its demolition will not begin until further investigations by power supplier NEDL and the emergency services have been carried out.

Mrs Cave, who can see the flat from her home, said: "I got the shock of my life when my four-year-old son, Tom, came running through to me to tell me the flat was being pulled down.

"It's a huge relief. I've been waiting for so long. The flat will still be there in my head, but at least it will be gone soon."

She does not want a memorial to mark the place where her son died because she said there was enough of a reminder of the events at the flat already.

She said she was overcoming her grief by helping the family of Neil Armstrong, who died last Friday in a road traffic accident near Manchester.

The 20-year-old, of Staithes Road, Redcar, east Cleveland, died on a sliproad off the M602, in Eccles, along with two colleagues, including Kevin Mallows, of Stanley, County Durham.

Mrs Cave, who is a friend of the dead man's aunt, is making a flower arrangement in the shape of an England flag and football for his funeral.