A DECADE after David Allen died following a moped accident, his parents have said they can still feel the presence of their beloved son in the family home.

Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of David’s death, and parents Arthur and Linda will join his friends and siblings – five sisters and one brother – at their home in Spencer Crescent, Rose Hill, tomorrow to mark the occasion.

They plan to share hot dogs and beers and set off fireworks in memory of the former Peers School pupil, who died aged 16, after his moped hit a barrier on a cycle path beside the Eastern Bypass at Littlemore.

Mrs Allen, 61, said: “When they took the coffin out the door they took out a box with a body in it, but they didn’t take him.

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“He is still here in the house.

“Once recently there was a really strong smell of Lynx Africa, which he wore. He died at 10.30pm and the strangest part of the day is half 10 every day. The atmosphere changes, it gets colder and you can still feel him here.”

David’s ambition was to become a bricklayer and shortly after he died, Mr and Mrs Allen received a letter confirming he had been offered an apprenticeship.

Mr Allen, a full-timer carer for his wife, said: “He was a free spirit but he wanted to be a bricklayer and he wanted to get his own company going with his mates.

“We always wonder what he would be doing if he was still alive, would he be married? Would he have kids?

“He crammed a lot in to his life, he did it all.

“But he has missed out on his nieces and nephews. They all know of him but they did not know him.”

David had gone to meet a friend at Tesco and was travelling home when he collided with the bar-rier, on the same night 19-year-old student Arash Ghorbani-Zarin was found dead in Spencer Crescent.

The Oxford Brookes student was found stabbed in a car, and in the aftermath of the deaths, Mr and Mrs Allen found some comfort in sharing their grief with Mr Ghorbani-Zarin’s parents Raheem and Sembro.

Mrs Allen said: “Tomorrow is not only David’s day, it is Arash’s day as well.

“We met up with his mum and dad because they used to sit across the road where Arash died.

“His dad was a down-to-earth guy and it helped us.”

Mr and Mrs Allen will visit David’s grave in Botley Cemetery tomorrow afternoon before friends and family join them at home to celebrate his life.

Mrs Allen said: “We go to the grave now on his birthday, the anniversary of his death and Christmas.

“Going to visit him isn’t hard but I just don’t want to leave him afterwards.”

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