IT may not have brought an end to her pain - but at least Pat Gibson has the consolation of knowing that she has helped other families find justice over the past five years.

The Darlington mother waged a three-year campaign to overturn a law, following the death of her 20-year-old son, Michael.

The struggle ended five years ago, when a bill allowing prosecutions for murder and manslaughter if the victim died more than a year and a day after the original assault was given Royal Assent and became law.

Michael Gibson never regained consciousness after he was punched by David Clark and died 16 months after the attack.

But Clark could only be charged with grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to two years in prison.

Backed by The Northern Echo and Darlington MP Alan Milburn, Mrs Gibson launched her campaign, collecting 5,000 signatures of support, which eventually ended in success.

She said: "I still feel as angry at the situation concerning Michael today as I did nearly eight years ago, when he was attacked.

"I have heard people say time is a great healer, but it is not in this instance. If I felt there had been some sort of justice it might have helped a little bit, but we still lost a lovely young man, on the brink of manhood."

She said that she took some satisfaction from cases where the new legislation had been applied.

She said: "I am satisfied in the sense that I was right about it and everybody who backed me, including The Northern Echo and all the readers who signed the petition, agreed with me.

"When I hear of these cases, it gives me a sense that what we did was the correct thing to do. At the time I was in such an outrage I did not want anyone else to be put in that situation again."

Alan Milburn, then an Opposition MP but now Health Secretary, said getting rid of the outdated law had been a victory for justice.

He said yesterday: "I am proud to have been able to bring about the change in the law, which Pat Gibson fought for with such tireless dedication."