"No mother thinks they will be burying their son."

Those are the words of the mother of Taylor Williams, a teenager who was brutally murdered in Basingstoke.

The 18-year-old, from Bromley, was stabbed five times by Olamide Soyege on August 31, 2019.

The county lines drug dealer will serve at least 32 years in prison after being convicted by a jury in November 2020.

Additionally, Terence Maccabee was convicted of manslaughter and will be sentenced at a later date.

Now, the family of Mr Williams have spoken out about the impact his murder has had on their lives.

In a victim impact statement read at Winchester Crown Court on Friday, Fay Livingstone, Taylor's mother, said: "It is hard to put feelings of grief, sorrow, horror, hurt and mixed emotions into words. No mother thinks they will be burying their son.

READ MORE: Taylor Williams murder: Drug dealer sentenced to life

"The pain you feel when you give birth to your son is worth it and all forgotten about when you hold them. That was all taken away from me.

"My world stopped, came crashing down, for emptiness within.

"To not be able to hold my son again. To see his smile, to hear his voice, to be at his wedding, to be a grandmother, all taken away.

"Not being able to feel his loving embrace, to laugh at his jokes, is a heavy burden to bear.

"To hear how violently his life was taken away from him is hard to hear. No amount of tears I cry take away the pain."

More than 1,000 people attended Taylor's funeral in 2019, and dozens turned up to Winchester Crown Court on Friday to witness his killer face justice.

Taylor's father, John Williams, also wrote a victim impact statement, which was read to the court by prosecutor Sarah Jones QC.

He said that his mother's health deteriorated on hearing of Taylor's death, and that he believed she died of a broken heart.

The statement read: "On hearing the news of my son’s murder, my heart was ripped out of me. A little part of me had died.

"I’m heavily bereft and helpless and have no option but to depend on the judicial process to help our long bereaving process.

"As a father I do accept my son made wrong decisions, but this is something we all make. Sadly his wrong decision cost him his beautiful life.

"It is not fair and it hurts my soul. Taylor’s life made so many of our lives so beautiful.

"Taylor was extremely close to his sister, and a father seeing his two children interacting is beautiful.

"Knife crime has been and continues to be a scourge on the youth of this country. Now I have been a victim of this scourge, I do not want this to happen to other people.

"He was ambitious and funny and we shared endless jokes together. We trained together at the gym and at home.

"He asked me many questions about life, and it was a joy to watch him grow up from baby to toddler to teen.

"These boys have taken it from him. This beautiful future has been taken from us."