THE parents of a 19-year-old man beaten to death in an alleyway have spoken of their grief at losing their only son.
Darren McCubbing, from Ellesmere Port, was found dead on a shortcut just five minutes walk from his home on Wednesday.
Last night, his parents, Desmond and Suzanne, speaking from their home in the Wolverham estate, near Stanlow, said they were devastated.
Mr McCubbing said: "Darren was our son and we loved him very much. He still lived at home and we will miss him being around.
"Darren was just a teenager with his whole life ahead of him. Only recently, he had been talking about going back to college to study art.
"He was also interested in learning about furniture design.
"Today we walked over to see the place where he was found and lay some flowers. It was a very hard and painful thing to do."
Cheshire police launched a murder inquiry following a home office post mortem which revealed Darren had died of severe head injuries on Friday.
His body was found near a path behind homes off Sherbourne Road just yards away from St Bernard's primary school.
Huge bunches of flowers and condolence cards have already begun to gather at the site, left by Darren's close friends on the estate.
In the days since his murder, police have been combing nearby areas of grassland and shrubbery in the hunt for evidence.
A resident of Sherbourne Road, who did not want to be identified, said: "When the cordons came down on Sunday, we could see that officers have cut down and taken away several large bushes and most of the undergrowth near where the body was found has also been removed."
She added: "We cannot believe that such a brutal murder has happened here.
"The primary school children play out on these streets during in the day. One lady whose window overlooks the murder scene says she feels like moving home.
"From what people know, the man who died was a quiet, kind person.
"Residents on the estate have called a meeting on Thursday to see if we can get the authorities to knock down the brick wall on each side of the alleyway to make it more open."
A 17-year-old is still helping police with their inquiries after being arrested on Friday evening.
On Saturday, Cheshire magistrates granted murder squad detectives a 36-hour extension to allow them to continue interviewing him over the weekend.
A Cheshire Police spokesman said: "We are appealing for a woman who was seen in Sherbourne Court on Wednesday evening and who may hold vital evidence to come forward.
"Anyone who may have seen anything between 9pm on Wednesday, April 21 and 9am on April 22 should contact police."
Witnesses should contact police on 01244 350000 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
