A mother has spoken after a teenager accused of killing her son walked free from court.

Jurors cleared Douglas Herridge of the manslaughter of stepdad Colin Payne on Monday.

The 54-year-old died from a single punch to the head at his Dartford home.

Speaking this week, Brenda Rae revealed how Mr Payne was the second child to die before her.

Her daughter passed away seven years ago following an illness.

Speaking from her Bexley retirement home, the 76-year-old said: “I was so lucky to have a son like him.

“He never gave me an ounce of worry all his life.

“The one thing that came through at the funeral was he was a gentle man and a true gentleman.

“He was very loving and worked like a Trojan.

“He worked his socks off for his family and he adored his two girls, aged 11 and 16.

“People he hadn’t spoken to for more than 20 years came to the funeral and said they missed him.

“I’ve never seen so many people distraught about somebody in my life. It was unbelievable.

“He was so full of fun. It wasn’t in him to hurt anybody, it wasn’t part of him at all.”

The grieving mum treasures a memory book compiled by 200 mourners at her son’s funeral which contains message of love, thanks and gratitude.

Colin Payne spent his childhood and teenage years in Welling, Strood and Bexley and lived in Belgium for two years as an adult, training junior squash teams.

He worked with computers after leaving school but when he died, he owned franchises of luxury bathroom company Ripples, which has showrooms in Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

As well as being a national squash champion, Mr Payne enjoyed football, golf and cycling and had twice completed the London to Paris bike ride.

During Douglas’s trial, the court heard police were called to the family home in Sackville Road, Dartford, three days before Mr Payne died when the then 17-year-old ripped his stepfather’s T-shirt during a clash.

Mr Payne told police at the time he feared he was going to “end up in a fight” adding that he had not fought since he was forced to defend himself from school bullies, aged 11.

Mrs Rae said her son phoned her after the row.

She said: “It wasn’t the first row they’d had, it had been going on for months.

“Colin phoned me on his way home.

“I had him when I was quite young and we were very close.

“He used to off-load on me rather than go home and do it to his wife Ina.”

Douglas said in court that Mr Payne had his hands around his throat when he punched him.

Mrs Rae said: “I felt the whole trial was a bit of a fiasco.

“Colin’s voice has not been heard through us at all.

“What I do care about is that my son has been labelled as somebody who would put their hands around someone else’s neck and try to strangle them.

“I would stake my life on the fact he wouldn’t do that.”