Upstairs, at the Chapmans’ family home in Bobbing, Michael’s bedroom remains as it was 10 years ago.

Despite having been redecorated, his clothes are in the drawers and even the posters on the wall are as they were.

His dad is quick to point out it’s not a shrine, but simply something they wanted to retain out of respect for their son.

“I wanted to put Michael’s stuff back in there because I wanted my brother back,” adds David.

“That’s still Michael’s room and that’s it.”

It was June 16, 2006, when a devastating blow to his neck and a toe-punt to the head at The Grove claimed the life of their son and brother.

The details of what happened next remain etched on their memories and show no sign of fading: police knocking at their door; the phone call to Lloyd who was at work, driving a lorry, to say what had happened; the huge out-pouring of grief; and the frustration of the court process.

Lee Cowie, who was 18 when he punched and kicked Michael, received a four-year jail term for manslaughter and was released after serving less than two.

“We feel let down by the justice system,” said Lloyd, 59, who drives for Morrisons.

“I do not believe Michael got a fair trial. We were not the victims, we are secondary.

“Michael was the victim and Michael was not there to tell his story or to tell people exactly what happened.”

The family has numerous unanswered questions, said Sue, those they feel their barrister should have asked and others about the police investigation and handling of the case.

In the months and years that followed, they campaigned for those responsible for killing people in similar attacks to serve their full sentence and for 18-year-olds to be sent to adult prisons rather than young offenders’ institutes.

In 2008, they met with the then justice secretary, Labour’s Jack Straw, and the following year, there was a landmark judgement when Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge said greater weight should be given to the loss of a human life when sentencing, and the jail terms of two men for manslaughter were increased.

Sponsored walks and concerts were held and trees were planted, all in Michael’s memory, and David, who is now 28 and runs his own plastering business, laid a path at St Bartholomew’s Church in Bobbing where Michael is buried.

The pain of what happened has not gone away.

“Our lives have been destroyed,” says David.

“It’s just an existence,” added Sue, who visits the church twice a day, as it’s where she feels closest to her son.

“There’s always something to remind you,” said Lloyd.

“One minute you are nurturing Michael and giving him clothes for school, making sure there’s food in the cupboard and in a split second he’s not yours.

“The last thing he said to me was ‘I’ve done the hoovering up, dad’. I said ‘OK, see you later’.

“To be that loving kid, having a wonderful sense of humour, who I enjoyed being with as a mate, then he is nothing to do with you, it’s everlasting.”

On the anniversary, the family visit the spot where Michael was killed, which initially saw huge crowds gathering.

“If you go back to year one, when people were a lot younger, there were people turning up down there by the dozens,” Lloyd recalled.

“People have been able to turn the page of life and we haven’t.

“I know we were thinking people would turn up each and every year but that’s just not going to happen.

“I can understand that.”

It is important for others to remember what happened, says Lloyd, so they understand the implications of throwing a punch or delivering a kick.

David, who is now married to Jessica and has a seven-month-old daughter, Isla Rose, advised young people to simply “think twice” if considering using violence.

Lloyd, who is fighting prostate cancer, appealed to youngsters to be aware of the anguish it could cause.

“You need to be aware of what can happen and the long-term effect it has on other people, friends, family, work colleagues; on yourself and your own family, because it can be forever.

“Looking at us, we probably look OK. It’s caused us a lot of illness.”

He added: “We can all enjoy each other and it costs nothing to be nice.”

The reintroduction of National Service could prevent the kind of violence which led to Michael being killed, says Lloyd.

A former Grenadier Guard, he served from 1975 to 1982 and was posted to Northern Ireland, Jamaica, Sudan, and Berlin.

“I would go and do it again tomorrow,” he said.

“It gave me certain values – respect, knowing the value of people and the value of life, looking after yourself.

“I think it’s something we should be looking at.”

Lloyd believes Cowie would not have attacked his son in the way he did had he been in the forces.

“If someone like him went in, he would not have thought of doing something like that.

“If a squaddie was in a fight, he would never hit someone in the neck.”

Sue, who is a senior clinical support worker at Maidstone Hospital, said they would continue to campaign but were considering the best approach to take.

“We have to carry on working and thinking about how to go about something.

“It’s no good to jump on a bandwagon. Probably in a couple more years when we have got things sorted out.”