Barnaby Webber’s dog hasn't touched cuddly toy since the day he died in the Nottingham attacks

BARNABY Webber’s pet dog left a cuddly toy on his bed the day he died - and hasn’t touched it since. Dougie, an 11-year-old Jack Russell/chihuahua rescue cross, walked into the teen’s bedroom on June 13 last year.

He left the cuddly giraffe on Barnaby’s bed - where it has remained ever since. Barnaby’s mum Emma told the Mirror: “Barney adored Dougie. He called him ‘Big Man’.” Emma goes into his bedroom every evening to turn on his light and returns to turn it off before bed.

“It’s just something I like to do,” said Emma. “It’s a comforting thing, like he’s still there I guess.” Everywhere she goes she is greeted by reminders of her eldest child, who excelled at cricket and rugby.

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“I miss him,” she said. “His presence. Looking at him. Just him being here. He was always there, for 20 years. From being pregnant with him, to him being in the world. Just that space, that emptiness. It doesn’t get any easier.

“That’s the thing with grief, small things can trigger you. It can be anything. A song, a memory, a road sign, places you have been. Taunton is a big town but there is not a single part that doesn’t have memories of him in one way or another.”

Cards and letters simply addressed to “Barney’s parents, Taunton” arrive at the family home every day. Well-wishers send gifts including hand-crafted pebbles and crystal dream-catchers.

“I suppose in a really dark world, for us it shows us there is some good out there,” said Emma. "It’s very easy to think everything is bad.

“If I have a pound for every time I hear ‘I can’t imagine what you’re going through’ or ‘I’ve got children the same age’ or ‘It’s every parents’ nightmare’, I’d be able to pay the mortgage off. I don’t say it lightly, because I probably say all of those things, but it’s painful.

“When I hear ‘I can’t imagine’, what I hear as the parent is ‘Thank god my child is safe’. That sounds cruel, but it’s not because that’s what we feel about it.

“Having said that, I’d much rather people bothered to say something than not. I was walking the dogs yesterday and a lady stopped and said, ‘You’re Barnaby’s mum aren’t you?’

“You could see her thinking ‘f***, what do I say?’ but she said ‘I just want to let you know I’m thinking about you all the time’. She was an older lady, people are just mostly decent.

“It’s a struggle to be in the public eye. It’s difficult being recognised. It’s not like I’m recognised for winning a medal at the Olympics, or being a great actress.

“I’m being recognised for the tragedy, and people feel genuinely sad for me. But that being said, I’m so admiring of people that make that effort to say something, because that cannot be easy.

“A lady came up to me in M&S after seeing me come in, and she had bought me a bunch of flowers. Those little things are so kind.”

Valdo Calocane, 32, fatally stabbed students Barnaby and his friend, and fellow University of Nottingham student, Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, before killing school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, last June.

Barnaby and Grace had been walking home from an end-of-term night out when they were repeatedly stabbed in Ilkeston Road, Radford. A short while later, Calocane made his way to Magdala Road, Mapperley Park, where he fatally stabbed Ian Coates and stole his van.

Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order after admitting to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility in January, as well as the attempted murders of Wayne Birkett, Marcin Gawronski and Sharon Miller using Mr Coates' stolen van.

A judge recently refused to increase this sentence to include prison time after Attorney General Victoria Prentis referred it to the Court of Appeal for being "unduly lenient". A series of reviews are underway into the mental health treatment provided to the killer and police handling of the case.