Pat Cavanagh said she hopes to one day face her son’s killer after having waited years to see justice for his death – but feels she’d be “lucky” to see the case resolved
The mum of a “bubbly” and “fun loving” 22-year-old told how her son died from a single punch to the head after bumping into a stranger on a night out.
Anthony Cavanagh, from Liverpool, left the home he shared with his mum Pat and travelled into town one night in 2005, promising he’d return later that night. But he never did, as during his night in the busy city centre with friends, he was involved in a bar encounter that came with deadly consequences.
The Naval seaman was on shore leave when his group bumped into others at Walkabout bar in Liverpool’s Concert Square. Anthony apologised to one man after a drink was spilt, and they moved on. As they left the bar, they were confronted by another group – among them the man into whom he had bumped – and one of them attacked him.
Anthony was punched and knocked to the floor, falling hard on his head. The 22-year-old sustained massive head injuries following the assault, and died 11 days later on October 5, 2005. Speaking to the Liverpool ECHO 19 years after his death, his heartbroken mum said she hopes to one day find justice.
Pat said Anthony – whom she calls Tony – “always brought a smile to your face” and remembered how outgoing her “bubbly” son was with his friends. She said: “He was very good, if any of his friends were struggling it would be him that would step in and get them sorted. He was always making jokes and had me in hysterics laughing. He was just fun-loving, he loved life and he was just fun.
“He always brought a smile to your face. I used to look forward to him coming home and that night when he came home on the Friday he was just so bubbly and he was going out with his friends. I was on a computer game and he said to me ‘I’ll help you with that level tomorrow mum’ but he never came home. I couldn’t play on that game for quite a while.”
Pat and her family are yet to see justice for Anthony’s death, with a 33-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder in connection to the attack in 2015 never charged. The mum hopes that, as the 20th anniversary of his passing approaches, she can one day face his killer.
She said: “We just take each day as it comes. If we’re lucky and we get justice it’s going to be hard but its something that we have to go through. It’s closure, it’ll be closure for me. I’ll be able to face [his killer] knowing that we got justice for him because I don’t want him to have died in vain.”