A heartbroken mum has spoken of her devastation of finding her teenage son had been killed ‘accidentally’ by his twin brother.
Lynette Goodman, who is currently in Valencia, tearfully told the Herald & Post how she would stand by 19-year-old Ryan, who has reportedly admitted pushing his twin Michael during an argument, causing him to hit his head and die.
Ryan didn’t tell anyone what happened and allegedly left his brother’s body in undergrowth a few metres away from their house near Vallada in Spain. Michael’s body was found by an asparagus picker in April – 14 months after his disappearance.
According to reports by Spanish newspaper The Olive Press, Ryan confessed to the killing and told police it was an accident after a ‘stupid argument’.
Ryan and Michael grew up on the Blackthorn estate in Northampton before Lynette took her young sons to Spain to escape the drug culture in England and trouble in the town.
Lynette, 39, who has another set of twins, a boy and girl aged ten, said: “I have lost two sons. One is dead and one is in prison. I haven’t even got Michael’s body back yet. I can’t bury him. He disappeared when he was 17 and I have had a lot to deal with and I have two young children to look after, too.
“I do not know when his body is going to be released. Until the body is released I can’t even say goodbye.
It’s not been an easy time.
“My child is dead and he can’t be buried or cremated. It took seven weeks until they could tell me it was him through DNA.
“Mother’s instinct told me right from the beginning that he was no longer with us. When it’s then put into words then that cuts you up. It’s destroyed us as a family but I will support ryan to the death because it was just an accident with a door handle.
“It just happened and he panicked. He is now getting the help he needs. That boy kept it in for 14 months. You try keeping that in for 14 months. How someone can do that and not tell anyone?
“They were perfect children and I don’t know where it went wrong. They were as close as could be.”
She hit out at some reports which claimed the brothers lived ‘near animals’ and said: “Other papers have blamed me for it. One paper said they lived with animals. This is all lies.”
The case has now been forwarded to the youth court in Xativa, Spain, as Ryan was a minor at the time of the incident and he will spend the next six months in a juvenile detention centre.
If anyone from Northampton would like to send flowers to the family, it is being dealt with by the British Embassy.
