The Night That Changed Everything
Maxine Thompson-Curl still remembers the ordinary evening that turned into her worst nightmare in just a few hours. The 60-year-old from County Durham had no idea that her final conversation with her teenage son Kristian would be their last. On September 4, 2010, after helping his mother paint the family hallway in their Burnopfield home, Kristian left for a night out with friends in Consett, on the outskirts of Newcastle upon Tyne.
As he walked out the door, Maxine called after him: 'Kristian! Don't be back too late.' Little did she know that hours later, a single punch would trigger a brain injury that would brutally cut his life short months later.
A Life Cut Short by Random Violence
The mother-of-two recalls the moment her world came crashing down when she answered a phone call informing her that Kristian had been struck after a brief altercation over a cigarette. While waiting for friends to finish their drinks at the K2 nightclub, Kristian had gone to the toilet where Mark Berry approached him and asked for a cigarette.
The 18-year-old tried to explain he didn't smoke, but before he could complete his sentence, Berry delivered a single blow to his head that would prove fatal. Kristian's life ended in hospital ten months later, his body unable to recover from the trauma.
Maxine describes her initial disbelief: 'Well, what's he up to now? They've only been out an hour,' she thought when first told Kristian was heading to hospital. 'As you do, always blaming the kid for something silly. But then I was told it was something serious.'
The Devastating Aftermath and Inadequate Justice
When Maxine arrived at Durham Hospital, she found her youngest son covered in wires on a hospital bed. In a heartbreaking detail, she noticed paint on the bottom of his foot from their decorating earlier that day. 'All I was thinking was "I'll need to scrape that off", it sounds silly,' she recalls.
Kristian was transferred to Newcastle hospital for emergency surgery, where doctors revealed there was no brain activity. Maxine had to sign paperwork authorising procedures that included removing part of his skull and his brain's frontal lobe.
'Kristian was beautiful,' Maxine says. 'He was a footballer and a cricketer. He lit up the room when he came in, he had the most beautiful personality. He had a brilliant future ahead of him, he was so clever. He got 11 GCSEs, and he was in college, he was going to go to university.'
Although Kristian briefly emerged from his coma a week later, giving his family false hope, the brain injury had completely changed his personality. He became inappropriate with horrendous language, a far cry from the cheery teenager who had bounded out of the house just one week earlier.
After being moved between facilities, including being formally sectioned and placed with mental health patients despite having a brain injury, Kristian tragically passed away ten months after the assault in a Northampton hospital.
Mark Berry was jailed for 28 months after admitting causing grievous bodily harm and served just nine months in prison. Maxine expressed disgust that someone could kill with their bare hands and not even serve a year in prison, especially when Berry's explanation was simply that he'd had 'a bad day' at work.
Contrasting Approaches to Tragedy
The success of the West End play Punch, which focuses on one-punch assaults and restorative justice, highlights a different approach to similar tragedies. The play by James Graham is based on the book Right From Wrong by Jacob Dunne, who killed trainee paramedic James Hodgkinson with a single unprovoked punch in Nottingham in 2011.
Dunne served 14 months in prison and later built a positive relationship with his victim's parents through a restorative justice project. However, Maxine is clear that she doesn't share those feelings.
Fifteen years after Kristian's senseless death, she says she will never forgive Mark Berry for changing the course of her life in the seconds it took to throw one punch. 'It's not taken seriously,' she says of the play's approach. 'It's certainly a different angle and if that mother gets peace from watching it then good on her. Maybe she's got peace - which I haven't got. I've never had peace.'
Campaigning for Change and Finding Solace
Maxine now runs One Punch UK, a campaign group educating people about the devastating consequences of one-punch assaults. She campaigns for tougher sentences and better understanding that fists can be just as dangerous as weapons.
'Even if you kill somebody outright, it's still just manslaughter, because it's a one-punch, and they'll say that it wasn't intended but as soon as you raise your hand, there's intention,' she argues. 'If you use your hand and make it into a fist, you're going to hurt somebody no matter what.'
The grieving mother finds her only solace in campaigning on behalf of her son and raising awareness about how devastating one-punch crimes can be. 'The little bit of solace I do get is through One Punch and helping other families, because I can't have Kristian die in vain.'
When thinking about her son's attacker, Maxine says: 'I don't give him any of my attention. I don't give him anything or any energy because if I did, it wouldn't be healthy.' Instead, she prefers to imagine what her 'beautiful son' might be doing if he were still alive: 'I think he would probably be travelling the world now.'
