Rebecca Love

Rebecca Love
3rd May 2007
26
Student Marine Biologist
Halls of Residence, Hull University
Mum, Dad, one Brother Adrian
Brutally murdered by Jason Webster from Leeds

Rebecca was the most beautiful, gentle and loving soul in the world. She was also a very spiritual person and although she was only very quiet, she touched the lives of everyone she met. She loved wildlife, especially marine life, and was studying for a degree in marine biology. Her life was taken in the most horrendous way whilst she was in her room at University. She sustained over 93 injuries. Jason Webster from Leeds was also found guilty of torture. I could not write here what he did to her; it is so vile that nobody would be able to read it. She was completely unidentifiable. The Police described her as "unviewable" so we have never been able to see her or say a proper goodbye to her. We do know however that Rebecca put up a very brave fight against this monster and in so doing helped to convict him without a shadow of a doubt, despite his many many lies. He even planted evidence to put the blame onto someone else. She had just one more week left at the University.

Thankfully, the Police and the Judge, saw him for the evil, lying and conniving excuse for a human being that he is and sentenced him to a life sentence of 21 years. He has to serve this before he can apply for parole or submit an appeal but it is us who has to serve the life sentence; the vile and sadistic things he did to our gentle beautiful Daughter are in our heads every minute of the day and night. He has been described as a seriously dangerous psychological killer and hopefully will never ever come out of prison. Lets see if he is as good at coping in prison as he is at torturing a young girl until she draws her last breath. As it was said in a statement by the Police to the Press "Jason Webster has literally squeezed the life out of Rebecca" and that is exactly what he did besides countless other things. There are no words low enough to describe him. To call him an animal would be insulting the animal kingdom.

Rebecca however had acheived a great deal in her young life and we are so proud of her. She was very artistic and at the age of about 7 or 8 drew a picture in black ink of a Second World War plane; this was exhibited in an exhibition in London. She also loved writing and reading poetry and a booklet has been made of poems which she wrote at 7 and 8 years old. These are now being sold and the money given to "Becky's Legacy". She attained black belt standard in karate, was an excellent cross country runner and excelled at swimming. She once swam five miles for charity without stopping. I think my proudest moment though was just a couple of weeks after her death. A Memorial Service was held in Hull for her. My Husband and I were too distraught to attend so my Son and his Partner went on our behalf. At the end of the service a man, who had physical deformities and a speech impediment, came to Adrian my Son and gave him a gold cross and said "could you please give this to your Mum and ask her to put it in Rebecca's bedroom. Everytime she saw me at College she would always come and have a chat with me, ask me how I was going on and ask if she could help me in any way". "Fancy" he continued "a beautiful young girl like that wanting to spend the time of day with someone who looks like me". It did make me so proud to be her Mum but I wasn't surprised because that is the kind of person she was.

Rebecca was also excelling in her work and this was making her especially happy. Just before she had her life taken, I met her in Hull for a "girlie shopping day". That day she walked on to the station to meet me and I just stared at her. There was something different about her. She looked radiant. She was flawless and so confident. There was a strange glow all around her, as though she was surrounded by a light or an aura. I told her this and she said "I know Mum. It's probably because I'm so happy. I have never been as happy as I am now". Looking back now, I wonder whether she was being prepared to be taken to the higher side of life, into the next world.

Rebecca's family have received a letter from Professor David Drewery, Vice Chancellor of Hull University to say that because of the very high esteem Rebecca was held in and because of the way she touched so many people's lives and also because of the excellent grades she had achieved in her work, the University have decided to institute a prize in her name. This is to be attached to the Department of Biological Sciences at Hull University and the Scarborough Centre for Coastal Studies. The prize will be called The Rebecca Love Prize. It was considered that this would be a very fitting honour in Rebecca's memory.

Rebecca's family have also received the following from Hull College where Rebecca had many of her lessons:-

"Hull College have also decided to award an annual scholarship in the name of Rebecca to support a student to study the sciences as this was not only Rebecca's area of study but also her passion, especially environmental and marine sciences. The Wilberforce Scholarship, awarded in Rebecca's name, will ensure that her name, her memory and the good things she brought to others' lives will live on. We hope that the student who receives the Scholarship can themselves continue to study and research and make the difference we know Rebecca would love to have done. Hull College is proud to be be able to offer this Scholarship as it was proud to have Rebecca as a student".

Just a few days before her life was taken I received a card from her which read "Dear Mum, I just want to say thank you for helping and supporting me. Thank you for always being there when I've needed to talk. Thank you for everything you have done for me throughout my life". I rang her to thank her for the card but said I was surprised to receive it as it wasn't my birthday or anything. "I know Mum" she said "but I just wanted you to know how much I love you".

Our friends, family, local community and the Spritualist Church where Rebecca had attended since she was a young girl have now set up "Becky's Legacy" to help the Marine and Seal Hospital at Scarborough Sealife Centre as Rebecca would have been continuing her studies at Scarborough in September, a place she loved very much; this depends entirely on donations. We have already raised quite a considerable sum for them. A new hospital was opened earlier this year and this has been dedicated to Rebecca; her picture and a plaque are on the door of the hospital. My Husband and I were recently invited to release back into the wild the first two seals cared for in the new hospital, one was called Rebecca and one was called Love. Although it was very emotional, we would not have missed it for the world as we feel that we are helping to carry on the work Rebecca would have been doing if she were still here. After releasing the seals, we went back to the base where they had a radio on loudspeakers, The DJ said "I think we will now have some Simply Red, lets have Stars". This was Rebecca's favourite group; she had been to see them many times and "Stars" was played at her funeral. I think this was Rebecca giving her seal of approval!

She is so much loved and missed by all her family, friends and local community who still cannot believe what has happened. Our lives are destroyed as we still struggle every day to live without her. She was my soul mate and my best friend. We never went to bed without speaking to each other and shared our joys, sorrows, problems and secrets. We saw her most weekends.

Music was also a big love of Becky's life. Her favourite group were Simply Red. We had been to see them many times in concert and she had every album and DVD and she knew every word to every song! She loved all music however and had literally hundreds of CDs. If you mentioned a song she could instantly tell you what CD it was on, what number track it was and how long it lasted. If we go out in the car now, both my Husband and I are always looking in the mirrors hoping with all our hearts to see her sat on the back seat with her earphones on, her head bobbing up and down to the music as she always did. When she was at home from University we would be out of Church every Sunday night and straight into the pub to do the music quiz. Happy days!

There are no words I can use to describe what this has done to us but I know her strong compassionate spirit and her friendly listening ear, that was never judgemental, will always be around to help those who need it. Nobody, not even anyone as evil as Jason Webster, can break the bond of love we have with our beautiful Becky.