"He was like a father" (From Barry And District News)

"He was like a father"

"IF I had been at home I would have killed him - you just don't do that to children."

These are the words of a neighbour of Stephen Gibbs - the man who stabbed the 11-year-old son of his former girlfriend five times, before attempting to take his own life by jumping off the top of Barry's multi-storey car park.

A Cardiff Crown Court judge, who last week gave Gibbs a 10-year extended sentence, said the real intended victim had been the child's mother Nicola Hillberg, who Gibbs could not forgive for ending their relationship.

Mrs Hillberg found Luke, whose wounds needed 30 stitches, lying in a pool of blood in Gibbs' home in St Andrew's Road, Barry, on February 28 this year.

The neighbour, who does not want to be named, says he was stunned when he learnt of what had happened, and described Gibbs as a "very engaging and hard-working man."

He said: "He was like a second father to Luke. I will never understand it.

"He used to buy him anything he wanted and they used to go camping and fishing together.

"He treated him like his own son. Gibbs was there for him 24-7."

Gibbs lived alone but Nicola and Luke were regular visitors to his home.

The neighbour said: "She had her own house but they lived more or less like a couple.

"They always got on and whenever they went out, they always took the boy.

"The boy was always playing football in the street. All the kids in the street knew him. And he sometimes used to come into my house to watch videos with my daughter."