Lee Rigby’s 12-year-old son was so shocked when the British soldier was brutally murdered that he did not talk for months.
Jack Rigby, who was aged two at the time, remained mute for several months after two terrorists tried to behead his father outside a Woolwich barracks in May 2013, The Mirror reported.
The youngster this week used his first interview since the killing to explain his goal of wanting to raise money for bereaved military children. He is now completing a marathon over the course of this month to raise £10,000 for Scotty's Little Soldiers.
“I want to raise £1,000 for every year my dad has been gone and would absolutely love to raise £10,000 for the 10-year anniversary,” he told the newspaper.
“I feel proud doing the May Marathon in honour of my dad. It also helps distract me from everything. Going on a long walk is a nice break and reminds me it’s not all bad.”
Islamist radicals Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale attacked Fusilier Rigby, 25, who was off-duty at the time, by running him down with a car and using knives and a cleaver to stab and hack him to death. The attackers, who were given a whole life sentence and must serve at least 45 years behind bars, had acted in response to the British army’s presence in Islamic countries.
Fusilier Rigby had served in Cyprus, Germany, and Afghanistan but was working as a recruiter when he was killed on 22 May, 2013.
He had Jack with his first wife Rebecca but the pair had separated with the Fusilier was engaged to a different woman at the time of his death.
Jack was a prominent figure at his father’s funeral, wearing a T-shirt that said “My daddy, my hero,” while then-prime minister David Cameron and London mayor Boris Johnson attended.
Jack was learning to talk when his father died but the tragedy set him back in his development and, the Mirror reported, reverted him temporarily to babyhood.
Jack's mother, Rebecca, now 40, told The Mirror: “For me, Scotty’s [Little Soldiers] is about knowing Jack’s not been forgotten.
“In the wider world, people seem to think that because he was only two-and-a-half when Lee was killed it didn’t affect him ... but that isn’t the case. It gives everyone who supports it the chance to speak to others who are in the same position.”
She added: “Just because Jack was young, it doesn’t mean he’s forgotten Lee.
“Lee has always been such an important part of our lives and always will be. I’m so proud of Jack in everything that he does, and I think that Lee would be as well.”
