Mural tribute to murdered teenager unveiled at his old primary school

A MURAL honouring a murdered schoolboy has been unveiled at his former school.

Olly Stephens, 13, was ambushed and fatally stabbed by a boy of the same age at Bugs Bottom field near his home in Emmer Green in January 2021.

The mural at Emmer Green Primary School has been created by the artist Peachy Official in collaboration with the school and his parents, Stuart and Amanda Stephens, both 55.

It includes a portrait of Olly’s first day at the school along with a rainbow, a rose and a butterfly.

Next to a stencil of Olly and a blue balloon there is a piece of artwork inspired by a painting he did, which reads: “Music Moves You” and “You Can Do It With Music!”

Mrs Stephens said: “It’s a piece of artwork he did in the final year of primary school. We found it in his drawers hidden with paints after he passed. We also found an Eminem CD. He always loved music and lots of different genres. Stuart and I grew up in the Eighties and he would listen to all the music we would have listened to. It was only after he passed we realised he had quite a big playlist.”

Mrs Stephens gave a speech to friends and family members and thanked headteacher Tonia Crossman for giving permission to paint the mural, Year 2 teacher Ellie Hayden for approaching Peachy and the artist himself.

She said: “He has captured him so well, his eyes, his cheeks and smile, it’s uncanny. It clutches at your heart. His care, skill and drive has created a mural so vibrant, so full of Olly, that it takes my breath away. It fills my heart with joy to see Olly back in the playground on Olly’s Wall.” The large rose and a rainbow reflects Olly’s funeral, which was held at Reading Crematorium in Caversham and was followed by a reception at St Barnabas Church in Emmer Green.

Mrs Stephens said: “Red roses have become a symbol for Olly. They were laid on the hearse for his funeral and when a memorial bench was installed for him at Bugs Bottom. A rainbow broke out on his funeral day.”

She said the school was a “very special place” that helped care and nurture children and that Olly would always stick up for his friends and the underdog.

Mrs Stephens added: “He couldn’t tolerate prejudice or bullying. Sadly, this got him into trouble repeatedly.”

Olly’s parents continue to campaign for controls on access by children to harmful content on social media after it was found that this contributed to his death. The Online Safety Act was passed in October. Mrs Stephens said: “We thought for his own safety we would give him a phone. It’s the worst thing we could have ever done. For any child it’s the online access, the social media platforms, there’s no protection at all.

“When we realised the world that Olly had been living in on and offline was so dangerous we had to do something to help protect other children and to raise awareness for parents, teachers and other practitioners.”

The couple have worked with Thames Valley Police, creating Olly’s Place in Bugs Bottom and participating in a BBC Panorama documentary. They have campaigned in parliament for anti-knife crime education, working with the Ben Kinsella Trust and Reading Borough Council, among others. The couple have also worked with local groups, such as Parenting Special Children Reading, Grassrootz and Giveback FC. Mrs Stephens said: “We will continue to campaign and work locally. This work includes pushing for information-sharing by agencies that would save lives.”

Now they have written to primary schools to encourage them to help children have a smartphone-free childhood.

In the letter, they say they first gave Olly a smartphone when he was in year 5 when he began walking to school without them.

They say: “What we hadn’t foreseen was how addictive the phone would be — he wanted it all the time. His mobile phone became another tricky issue to manage along with time on his Xbox. It was a battle to get him off both devices.”

They say Olly’s murder was planned online by children aged 13 and 14, making brutal threats to him. The couple also say that since they started campaigning they have been upset by what they have found out.

They write: “There is currently no protection for our children online. They can be groomed, criminally exploited, made to feel body dysmorphia, encouraged to self-harm and to take their lives.

“The algorithms on social media are intelligent and will force-feed damaging content. Often the harmful content comes into our children’s feeds without them searching for it.

“We know that we have let our children down, we took away their innocence and their childhood, we did not protect them.

“We will regret this for the rest of our lives and will continue to campaign around this area until we are sure that the danger has been removed.”