A grieving son has forgiven his twin brother for murdering their mum – despite being mistaken for the killer.
Mark Stephens, 44, stabbed his mother Rita, 67, to death with a carving knife and a fork in an unprovoked frenzy when she questioned his running of the family upholstery firm.
The general manager stabbed the retired former company director 38 times in the head and face at their home in Pencoed, Wales, in a drunken haze after downing vodka.
Cold-hearted Mark threw a blanket over her body and went to sleep – before waking and going out to buy more booze, in June last year.
He eventually confessed to police, but there was confusion when locals heard her 43-year-old son had been caught – leading people to think it was his twin brother Martin, a former commercial diver.
The father-of-two was attacked, pushed off his bike, shunned by his neighbours and banned from going to work, by locals who were convinced he was the killer.
He then had to endure the trial of his brother who denied murder – but was later convicted and finally jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years behind bars last month.
Amazingly Martin claims he has forgiven his twin for the “vicious and brutal attack” because he did not want to be eaten up by bitterness.
He says he still loves his brother and he hopes to write to him and eventually visit him in prison.
Speaking for the first time, Martin, of Bridgend, Wales, said: “I made the decision to forgive my twin brother for murdering our mother on the day I identified her body.
“At first I collapsed. I got home and I broke down, but then I went for a walk to clear my head and I knew what I needed to do.
“I chose forgiveness instead of negativity, anger and bitterness.
“I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life feeling resentful.”
Mark and Martin were close as children but grew apart as they got older.
They started spending time together again in 2015, when Martin moved back home to help with the family business after their younger brother, Carl, committed suicide.
But Martin quickly realised his twin had a drinking problem, and said Mark’s relationship with their mother was “testing”.
“Mum would get angry with Mark. He was drinking all the time and she felt he was leading the business astray,” Martin said.
Things spiralled and on June 19 2015 Mark murdered Rita.
On the day of the killing, Martin helped his mum cook a corned beef stew before going to the local pub with his brother.
Mark seemed in a jolly spirit but whenever their mum came up in conversation he spoke of her negatively, and even confessed to his brother: “‘I will deny it if you tell anyone else but I feel as if I could kill mum.”
That night, when he got home from the pub, Mark stabbed their mother to death and was arrested on suspicion of murder.
But word spread that a 43-year-old man had been arrested – and people wrongly thought it was Martin.
He was barred from entering his workplace, spat at, called a murderer and pushed off his bike.
“Everyone in Bridgend thought I had murdered mum,” he said.
To add to the pain, Martin then had to identify his mother’s body and realised, for the first time, that she had been killed with a carving knife and fork.
“Part of me felt that I could have stopped what happened. Mark had told me he felt he could kill mum, if only I’d taken him seriously,” he said.
“After I identified her body, I collapsed. I was inconsolable.”
He added: “I walked to the local cemetery. I don’t believe in ghosts or the paranormal, but I looked up to the sky and I could suddenly smell the aroma of her perfume.
“There was no one else around.
“I made a conscious decision to forgive my brother.
“I told mum I was going to forgive Mark and I instantly felt 100 per cent better.”
Martin wasn’t able to talk to Mark until after his trial, in February this year, as he was a character witness.
Now it is over, he hopes to visit Mark and send him letters to re-establish some sort of relationship with him.
He said: I know it will be very different from what we once had.
“It will now be about support. I have loved my brother for over 40 years and still do, even though he’s committed the most brutal crime and done the most horrific thing he could ever do.
“Love doesn’t die. What kind of person would I be if I said ‘F you’? I must rise above it.
He added: “I believe my brother was a very troubled man, he was misguided. I believe he wasn’t the person he once was. I believe he simply wasn’t himself.
“Of course, I hate that he’s taken our mum away from us. But he is still my twin brother and I still love him and want some form of relationship with him.”
Martin and his family have just marked the one year anniversary of Rita’s death.
“We laid flowers on her grave and remembered her by sitting down and having a family meal together.
“I spent almost all of my time with my Husky, Balto, as my partner has to care for her mother.
“At the height of my grief, Balto began to uncontrollably cry one night – seeing the broken man I had become.
“He is the greatest comfort to me and has been my rock throughout.
“I miss my mother terribly, but I miss my brother too. As time passes, it doesn’t get any easier.”
