Tyler West and his mum bravely appeared on Loose Women to discuss the trauma they suffered when they witnessed a fatal stabbing take place outside their home. The Kiss FM DJ was 14 at the time of the horror scenes and says "not a day goes by that you don't think about going through something traumatic like that."
The no1 26-year-old appeared on the ITV daytime show on Tuesday (January 10) alongside his mum, Debbie, to speak to Ruth Langsford, Linda Robson, Janet Street-Porter and Gloria Hunniford about what they witnessed on their street where they lives in Sutton in southwest London on that day.
“Some people go their whole lives without witnessing anything like that, and it happened in a pretty tough year for us at home and that just came out of nowhere," Tyler, who starred on last year's Strictly Come Dancing, recalled.
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Tyler said that he was coming home after attending an after school club when three men started arguing. Not long later, the then-teen saw one of the men stumble right outside of his house and it is then when Tyler noticed that his neck 'was cut open'.
"The other two followed him and at this point I was at my bedroom window and I noticed one of them had a 12-inch kitchen knife in his hand," Tyler said. Debbie shared how she spent 11 minutes on the phone to the police and while waiting for help to arrive, she kept attempting to go help the injured man.
“It’s indescribable the knock on effect that that has on the rest of your life - to the point that it’s only now, that I’m what, twenty-six years old and I’m able to sit there with my mum, in front of all you amazing people and talk about it," Tyler later said. "It takes such a journey."
He also shared how much it has impacted his life over the year. "It’s trauma, it’s grief, it’s those things there but it’s this idea that I saw a life taken in front of me," Tyler said. "It triggered attachment issues, I had counselling, I couldn’t use a knife and fork at dinner, I couldn’t walk on certain sides of the street, there was a long sort of process of things I am dealing with even up until now."
Tyler also had to publically give evidence during the trial as a key witness, despite Debbie "being assured by the police that Tyler would give evidence from the room next door and the only people that would see his face would be the judge, the barristers and the jury."
She continued: "It just broke my heart because I promised him… you know, you promise that you’re going to be safe and it just didn’t happen."
Now, Tyler, who is currently training for the upcoming Strictly Come Dancing Live tour, is moving on from the events and told the panel: "It’s hard to pinpoint an exact moment, you know it was like two years of counselling and that wasn’t working for me. There was a lot of back and forth, I wouldn’t leave my bedroom, I became a recluse. I wouldn’t talk to anyone, I was going through a real bad sort of mental health moment back then.
"I still struggle with it to this day but I feel one consistent thing throughout it all, I wasn’t looking to anyone for an answer, I wasn’t looking for anyone to come and save the day or anything like that but it was surrounding myself with people that loved me."
Tyler, who held onto his mum's hand throughout the interview, added: "So sometimes, you know when you’re struggling with your mental health or you’re struggling with grief or trauma or anything like that, sometimes you don’t need an answer, you don’t need to go and do something extravagant on the street to combat it. Sometimes it’s just somebody coming to you and saying ‘look Ty, I’m here and I love you’ and that was it for me and my mum."
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