The third anniversary of a Kingsbury man’s fatal stabbing has been marked by his grieving mother carrying a sandwich board with his alleged killer’s face on it.
Josh Hanson was fatally stabbed in the neck while out with friends at the RE Bar in Eastcote on October 11 2015.
Shane O’Brien, 30, who is wanted for the 21-year-old’s murder, fled the country via private plane immediately afterwards.
Despite being on a Global Most Wanted list and a £50,000 reward offered for any information leading to his arrest and prosecution, he continues to evade capture.
At the weekend, Josh’s mum, Tracey Hanson, held the third Football Tournament and Family Fun Day in memory of her son.
This week she’s been travelling around mainline train stations including Waterloo, Victoria and Paddington, wearing a sandwich board carrying details of her son’s murder in the hope that people will pass on her plea.
“Three years without Josh have been unimaginable and I have not even started to grieve,” she said, adding: “I have the face of the man the police want to speak to in relation to my son’s murder close to my heart - that cannot be right. Moreover, I have to do this because he has not been caught.”
She added: “The sandwich board is working - we have made great connections with the public and they have taken leaflets and they will be sharing the online poster.
“Sadly, the public report back to me that despite the efforts of Interpol and the National Crime Agency (NCA), there are countries where the police are unaware of the appeal poster, that’s a surprise and deeply troubling.”
O’Brien was placed on Interpol’s Most Wanted list in May. Efforts to find him have been focused on France, Spain, the Netherlands and Dubai but with means at his disposal, police said he could be anywhere.
DCI McHugh, said: “For Josh’s family, the last three years - more than 1,000 days and nights without Josh - have been horrendous.
“The determination of Josh’s family to do all they can to help raise awareness is inspiring and I am so proud of Tracey for putting herself among commuters so people can see first-hand what she is going through.
He added: “Three years may have passed but our resolve to track down O’Brien is undiminished.”
Anyone with information can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or visit crimestoppers-uk.org, the police incident room on 020 8785 8099 or the National Crime Agency’s public line on 0370 496 7622, which is staffed 24 hours a day.
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