John Paul McMurray was born on July 05, 1972 in Ayr. I was 17 and single, his father just did not want to know,so it was just him and me and that suited me fine, he was the first good thing that had ever happened to me, He was such a good baby after he got by the first 3 months as he had really bad colic. It was him and I against the world because back in 1972 it was not the done thing to have a baby and keep it if you were'nt married so we had quite a hard time of it with people looking down their noses at us and making snide remarks, but I did'nt care I loved my son and was proud to be his mum. When he was about 1yr old I met a man who at the time I thought was really nice, what a mistake that was after about a year I discovered I was pregnant again as soon as he knew he changed completely he became very possesive didn't want me mixing with other people even my family, when I did not do as he told me he started becoming very violent, but not just towards me but also to John Paul. In february 1975 I had a baby girl called Arlene, her father was so taken with her and that made things worse for John Paul and myself,everything had to centered around Arlene, this went on for about another 2yrs. the violence just kept getting worse and back then there was nowhere to turn the police just classed it as a domestic. At christmas time 1976 things came to ahead when once again he hit John Paul, I had finally had enough and somehow found the courage to stand up to him, I told him to pack his bags and leave my home he knew I had had enough so after knocking me about one last time he left. It was not till about 1mth. later I found out I was pregnant again, in august that year I had my son Christian. Life was tough I was a single parent again this time with three kids but that was okay we didn't have much and there were some really hard times but we were happy and more importantly we were safe, nobody telling us what to do or using us as a punchbag whenever it suited them. Life moved on and John Paul had some emotional problems along the way due to the abuse he had been through but with the help of my G.P. and a councellor he managed to get on, he tried many different hobbies over the years, football, boxing, judo and many other things but nothing seemed to really interest him, then when he was 12 he said he wanted to join the army cadets, I thought it was just another one of his daft notions but I made enquieres anyway and discovered he could not join till he was 13 so for the next 6mths he used to go along every week and just watch, but the minute he turned 13 he joined up. From that day on all he wanted to do was join the army. When he was 14 I had met someone and got married I don't think he was to happy about it but I think for my sake he didn't say anything,the following year I had my youngest son Dean. John Paul left school at 16 and got a job as an apprentice butcher but all he really wanted to do was join the army, so finally at 17 I took him to the army careers office He passed all the entrance exams and the medical but they felt he was not ready to leave home, so they told him to come back in a couple of years. He continued to work as a butcher but really hated it, so 2yrs. later he reapplied for the army and this time he was excepted. So in April 1991 he joined the Royal Engineers at basic training in Camberly in Surrey.