My son was shot dead by his great grandpa – it should be his last day of school… instead his twin asked me sad question
TODAY should be Stanley Metcalf’s last day at primary school.
Like every parent, his mum Jenny Dees should be shedding a few tears at the school gates as her son waves goodbye to his classmates in preparation for big school.
Instead Stanley’s twin sister Elsie, 11, will start secondary school alone, after her brother was shot dead by his own great-grandfather – Jenny’s grandad – at a family gathering.
Albert Gannon, now 82, was jailed for three years for manslaughter after modifying the air rifle that shot Stanley. He was set free after just 18 months.
Gannon has never apologised to Jenny or her partner, Stanley’s dad Andy Metcalf.
This week Stanley’s classmates released balloons during a poignant remembrance day in honour of the little boy who will forever remain six years old.
Anguished mum Jenny told The Sun: “I can’t see the wood for the trees at the moment. I have such mixed emotions.
“I’m proud as punch for Elsie but the other part of me is devastated that Stanley isn’t with her.
“Elsie says she’s really sad, that she and Stanley should be going up to high school together, and she asks me what I think he would look like now.”
Hull City fan Stanley’s final words were: “Why have you shot me grandad?” after Albert Gannon fired his powerful .22 calibre airgun into his stomach.
The pellet left a hole the size of a 5p in his abdomen but Stanley suffered catastrophic internal bleeding.
Jenny says Gannon, of Sproatley, East Yorkshire, has never said sorry for the shooting – which happened when family got together to mark the death of the retired ship worker’s son 15 years earlier.
As Jenny and Andy, 44, mourned Stanley, Gannon posted a holiday snap on Facebook which showed him grinning next to wife Jennifer while wearing a white tuxedo on a cruise.
The tragedy has split the family into two opposing sides.
Jenny said: “I don’t know what I’d do if I ever came face-to-face with him. If I’m honest I couldn’t trust myself to be near him.
I don’t know what I’d do if I ever came face-to-face with him. If I’m honest I couldn’t trust myself to be near him
Jenny Dees
“At first I felt sorry for granddad, but then I started hearing he was in the pub with his pals, and then came the holiday.
“He showed no remorse for what he did.”
Next week the Government will tighten regulations to ensure owners lock away air rifles when under 18s are present. Officials will also work with the gun industry to improve safety.
But Jenny, 45, of Hull, who has been campaigning for further restrictions under #Stanleyslaw, says the controls don’t go far enough.
In 2021 she met with the then Home Secretary Priti Patel to demand a database of people convicted of gun offences so sellers could restrict weapons.
Jenny also wanted to make it illegal for anyone to own an air rifle without a certificate, and wants a ban on 14 to 17-year-olds using them on private land.
Currently only guns over .12ft.lb – a measurement of power – have to be licenced.
She said: “I feel like the Government hasn’t listened. Stanley’s name wasn’t even mentioned in the consultation paper and gun owners were asked for their opinion.
“Of course they are going to fight against change. It’s an insult to my son.”
Staying strong
This week Stanley’s sister Elsie was given a special achievement award as his former classmates at St Mary Queen of Martyrs celebrated his life by releasing balloons.
They also gave Jenny a plaque for a memorial garden at the school.
Jenny says she found it especially difficult to watch the Year Six leavers’ play – a tradition among kids who are graduating to high school.
She said: “It was really hard to see all of Stanley’s friends grown up, headed for a future he won’t see.
“I couldn’t help but wonder what part Stanley would have been given if he was still alive – probably something comic because he was such a funny little boy.
I couldn’t help but wonder what part Stanley would have been given if he was still alive – probably something comic because he was such a funny little boy
Jenny Dees
“Elsie has tried to stay strong, I think partly for Andy and I because she doesn’t like to see us upset.
“But she cried when all the other pupils sang their leavers song and shared memories of Stanley.
“There’s a special bond between twins and she misses him like mad. Some days she talks about him all the time and on others she can’t face it.
“The school has been incredibly supportive and helped us massively as a family.”
‘Super proud’
Elsie was expected to fail her end-of-primary SAT exams due to the upset of losing her brother, and the Covid pandemic – but ended up passing.
Jenny said: “She missed so much education but she worked so hard and studied every night to make sure she passed the SATS.
“Her teachers were really happy for her, and Andy and I were super proud. She’s such an amazing girl.”
Jenny and Andy went on to have a little girl called Tilly after Stanley died, who has helped bring some light back into family life.
In September the three-year-old starts nursery at the same school her older siblings went to.
Heartless fraudster
Both Elsie and Jenny are having trauma counselling for Stanley’s loss.
But the family faced even more heartache when a callous fundraiser stole cash in memory of Stanley.
Charity organiser Kayleigh Pepper, 37, was last year jailed for 20 months for pocketing donations for Stanley’s school memorial garden.
Pepper made a guest appearance in a special EastEnders episode about knife crime after her brother Rich was stabbed to death in East Hull.
She befriended Jenny and cash intended for Stanley’s peace garden was entrusted to an unregistered charity she set up in her late brother’s name.
But she spent £20,000 of donations on a new look, clothes and a holiday to Benidorm.
Jenny says: “We’ve been through so much as a family but we’ve stayed strong and Stanley will always be a part of us.”
She has now relaunched a petition to make it illegal to own an air rifle without a licence.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Strong firearms controls are essential to keep the public safe and we keep our tough firearms legislation under constant review.
“Measures come into effect next week which further safeguard young people against the misuse of air weapons.”
Sign Jenny’s petition here.