DENIS Witney’s mother said her son was a sporty, sociable and kind man, whose life was destroyed by alcohol.

Karen Witney, 57, of Lyndworth Close, Headington, sat with her family and friends throughout the trial at Oxford Crown Court.

She said it had been horrendous listening to the details of how her 39-year-old son, who played football for Thame United and worked as an electrician, was killed.

The former Cheney School pupil had been estranged from his family since 2010, when his father Andy’s death, following a cancer drugs trial, led to his drinking spiralling out of control.

Andy Witney died in August that year, aged 56, after a five-year fight against cancer. An inquest in Oxford last year heard that drugs he took as part of a trial may have accelerated his death.

The 56-year-old suffered from mesothelioma, an incurable cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. The former Cowley car factory worker suffered severe side-effects in the trials at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford and died 12 days later.

Mrs Witney said Denis had got back in touch with his relatives in last year, two months before his death and was staying at Simon House recovery centre, in Paradise Street, when he suddenly went missing.

She said: “Growing up, Denis was perfectly normal, very sporty and popular.

“He had loads of friends and was a great one for the girls, and always had a girlfriend.

“He had loved football ever since he was old enough to kick a ball, but he also played other sports – he loved cricket and boxing. And he worked as an electrician for several firms and loved his work.”

She said it was before he got married, about 12 years ago, that her son first started to have problems with alcohol.

But she said: “Denis wasn’t like those people in the court, he wasn’t like that at all.

“He was very proud, he always dressed very well and always took care of himself.

“And even when he was drinking, he always went to the gym. The trouble was with alcohol, it took Denis into areas he would never normally venture into. He got used to seeing the people who were down at the night shelter.

“But for a while he came home and was very much a part of the family again.”

She said alcohol had taken everything away from her son, including his marriage, which fell apart in 2007.

She said: “It has been horrendous. I can’t bear thinking about what happened to him at the end. I just wish he had come home.

“I don’t know if we could have helped him, but I can’t bear that thought – that he died in such a squalid way and none of us were there.

“He wasn’t perfect by any means but he had a very good character. He was just a very kind and decent bloke getting on with his life until the addiction kicked in.”

Speaking about the men convicted of her son’s murder, Mrs Witney said: “I have got no sympathy for their backgrounds.

“I don’t believe that having an unfortunate upbringing or being into drugs gives you the right to behave the way they behaved. I hope they go away for a very long time, I think it’s what they deserve.

“I would like to know what happened in that house, but I don’t think I ever will.”