Lee Rigby's mother criticises lack of support for her family

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/27/lee-rigby-mother-family-criticises-government-support

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Lyn Rigby, whose son Lee was murdered by Islamic extremists in 2013, said MoD had not contacted her since his funeral

Haroon Siddique

Tue 27 Jun 2017 11.22 BST

Last modified on Wed 20 Sep 2017 19.03 BST

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The mother of the murdered soldier Lee Rigby has accused the Ministry of Defence of failing to support her family.

Rigby, 25, was off duty when he was stabbed to death in May 2013 by Islamic extremists outside the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, south London. His mother Lyn said the family had not heard from the MoD since his funeral.

“We never got the support, we were classed as a non-dependent family of Lee’s so we weren’t classed as Lee’s family,” Rigby told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme.

“The next of kin get looked after, they get the support and everything else … We never got the counselling, we got that from the actual Victim Support.”

She also said the main charities “didn’t want to know”.

Lyn Rigby and her family, who live in Manchester, had been celebrating Lee’s life on the fourth anniversary of his murder when they heard about the Manchester Arena attack.

She said the news of the suicide bombing at the Ariana Grande concert hit them hard, but there was no contact from the MoD. “We really did think we would get a phone call just to make sure we were OK,” she said.

Rigby said Lee’s stepfather, Ian, had been signed off work for three weeks on medical grounds after the Manchester attack because of the toll it had taken on him.

She said that the MoD had not only failed to support the family emotionally but financially as well, revealing that she sometimes skipped meals to ensure her partner and children could eat.

“We do struggle from day to day to put food in the kids’ mouths,” she said.

The Manchester Arena attack, which killed 22 people, was the second of four terrorist attacks over a three-month period this year.

Rigby said the third of those attacks, on London Bridge and Borough Market earlier this month, felt like a repeat of the murder of her son, who was also struck by a vehicle before being attacked with knives and a cleaver.

“I do get angry, but you can’t give in to these people. You can’t let them win,” she said.

She and her partner set up a charity in their son’s name after he was killed and are renovating a house in the grounds of a country estate in Staffordshire to serve as a retreat for the families of soldiers killed serving their country.

An MoD spokesman said: “We do our utmost to support armed forces’ families that have lost loved ones, providing trained visiting officers who offer guidance on accessing help as well as a range of support from individual regiments, including financial aid. Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Drummer Lee Rigby.”

Rigby’s killers, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, were sentenced to life in prison in December 2013.