Friends and relatives in pilgrimage to scene of Luke's death

FAMILY and friends of tragic Derbyshire student Luke Campbell have made an emotional visit to the spot where he was killed.

The 20-year-old was found dead with stab wounds on November 8 in the garden of a house in Boscombe, Bournemouth, where he was attending university.

On Saturday, a group of 15 friends and relatives travelled from Burton, where he had been to college, on the emotional pilgrimage.

Cousin Nathan Lewis, 17, who had stayed with Luke in Bournemouth, said he was the last person to see Luke before his death.

He said: "I came down to visit him for two weeks. I was the last person with him. I was in his house just before.

"We were just playing XBox at his (house) and he said he was nipping out and never came back.

"I was waiting at his house. He never came back all night. I thought that wasn't like Luke. He didn't deal with his friends like that, especially not me."

Nathan said that when police told him that Luke had died, "I felt sick – like part of me has been taken away from me. Me and him were so close – cousins but more like brothers. He was like my older brother I looked up to.

"When he got his first car – a Peugeot 106 – we would go out, just me and him, rapping."

Another cousin, David Jones, 24, said that he, Luke and some of the others who made the weekend trip were part of a 25-strong rap/garage band called Virus Crew, which performed at Midlands clubs.

He said: "He was my cousin and he was my best mate. We had a lot of good times.

"All of us are in a music group and we did a lot of shows in Burton. He was a talented rapper and had his own mix tape that he had just brought out. That's what he wanted to do.

"He didn't look for trouble. For that to happen to him is unbelievable."

It is understood that Luke, who was born in Derby, lived with his family in Stenson Road, but moved to live in West Yorkshire in 2003 and later moved to Burton and Belper.

He was a student at Burton College from 2005 to 2008 but, in the summer, moved to Bournemouth to study IT and business studies and was living in St John's Road.

His mother, Hazel, also moved to Bournemouth.

On Saturday, after visiting her, the group fastened bouquets to wire netting in a house garden next to the railway bridge in Cleveland Road, where his body was found, then stood silently in tribute.

They also pinned up a sweatshirt featuring 2Pac – an American rapper who died in a drive-by shooting in 1996.

A Facebook group set up in Luke's memory already has 1,500 members.

Larbi Mohammed, 20, and Saeed Alkadir, 21, both from London, appeared before Bournemouth magistrates on Saturday, accused of murdering Luke, and were remanded in custody.

Mohamed, 20, of Westmorland Road, Southwark, and 21-year-old Alkadir, of Kellett Road, Lambeth, are charged that, together with a person unknown, they murdered Luke on November 7.

They spoke only to confirm their dates of birth.

They were remanded in custody to appear for a preliminary hearing at Winchester Crown Court on November 24.