THE brother of tragic Jimmy Mizen has told for the first time how he held the dying teenager in his arms and gazed into his terrified eyes as the light flickered out.

Tommy Mizen told the News of the World: "I looked into his eyes and thought, 'What's happening, he's still a little boy'.

"For those few seconds that our eyes locked I could tell so much.

"I feel some comfort that I know he didn't die alone, that he was relieved to see me and that he died in my arms."

Jimmy's death in May last year, the day after his 16th birthday, shocked the nation. The murder of the altar boy from a model family at the hands of thug Jake Fahri has become a symbol of our lawless streets.

While Fahri, 19, is beginning a life sentence with a minimum of 14 years, Jimmy's parents Barry and Margaret impressively refused to show anger at their son's killer. Instead, they made an emotional plea for an end to the culture of rage and violence destroying the British way of life.

And now Tommy, one of the couple's nine children, joined his parents in a dignified response to the thug's sentence.

He told us: "We don't have Jimmy. Fahri has taken that smile, that laugh, that huge character from us and I will never forgive him for that.

"But I don't hate him. That would just be him continuing to hurt me and my family.

"He is just nothing to me. I don't want to waste my time thinking about him. I want to remember Jimmy for all the times he made us laugh."

Tommy, 27, a builder, recalled the hours leading up to Jimmy's death. "It was a strange Saturday because I was up early for once and Jimmy was at home.

"Dad had given him the day off from working at his shoe repair shop because it had been his birthday the day before. We walked round to the café for breakfast. I bought him a Number One-the full fry-up. It was the only present he was going to get from me as I didn't have much money. We had a nice breakfast, chatted and had a laugh about Gladiators I think because it was coming back on the telly."

The brothers then went their separate ways and a short time later 6ft 4in Jimmy went out to the shops, excited at the prospect of now being old enough to buy his first Lottery ticket.

That done, he and brother Harry, 19, popped into the bakery around the corner from the family's six-bed semi in Lee, south-east London.

Fahri, who the Old Bailey heard is obsessed with gangsta rap and has boasted about drugs and violence, tried to barge past Harry. But Harry, as tall as his brother, stood his ground.

The 5ft 7in yob jabbed Harry in the face with a key and offered to fight both brothers.

Harry then called Tommy on his mobile phone, saying they were in trouble and could he come to help.

That escalated the situation and in the row that followed, Fahri hurled a glass oven dish at Jimmy. It shattered on his chin, sending a shard of glass into his neck where it severed an artery.

Tommy said: "I ran as fast as I could round there. I I knew it must be serious for them to even phone me."

"As I turned the corner I saw all these people shouting at a guy and him starting to run off so I gave chase.

"I didn't go very far because something in my mind stopped me. I remembered seeing Harry as I ran past the shop and just thought I'd better get back to see if my brothers were OK."

Tommy's voice dropped as he recalled walking into the bakery. "I remember seeing the blood. I'd never seen so much before in my whole life."

Mortally wounded, Jimmy had staggered into a store cupboard at the back of the bakery.

Tommy went on: "As I opened the cupboard door Jimmy looked me in the eye then collapsed into my arms.

"I'll never forget the look in his eyes. There was such fear and panic staring out at me, but also a kind of relief that I was there to help him.

"I lowered him to the ground and tried to stop the bleeding. I was grabbing as many tissues as I could but it just kept coming through. I was telling him I loved him, that he had to keep breathing. I was panicking, not really knowing what to do.

"I was calling for an ambulance, the police, anyone at all to help us.

"I must have only been there with him for a few minutes but it felt like hours. I was remembering back to earlier that morning when I'd looked at Jimmy and thought for the first time, 'My little brother is a man now'.

"But there, lying in a pool of blood, I looked into his eyes and thought, 'What's happening, he's still just a little boy'.

"I glanced over my shoulder to see what was happening and as I looked back Jim stopped breathing. It was then that it hit me-he was dead. How could that be possible?"

Tommy lifted his sleeve to reveal a tattoo on his wrist. It says, proudly: Jimbo and underneath are the words "Brother, friend, inspiration".

He went on: "Then the paramedics arrived and I felt glad for them to be taking over.

"I knew he was dead but somewhere inside me there was hope that maybe these guys could do something to save him. But when they walked out of the bakery they just took off their gloves and shook their heads and that's when we all knew he was gone forever."

Jimmy had eight brothers and sisters. As well as Tommy and Harry there are Joanne, 37, Danny, 31, Billy, 28, Bobby, 25, Samantha, 22, and nine-year-old George.

Tommy paid tribute to the strength of the family for helping them through Jimmy's tragedy.

He said: "I still have sad times, but having such a big family means you've got a big support network. We're all here for each other and that's been a huge help."

"As well as them we've all got great friends who know how to make you feel better.

"They can see when I'm feeling down or having a tough moment and they do what they can to pick you up out of it."

"Without my friends and family this would have been a much more difficult time."

Once again echoing the family dignity which captured the hearts of the nation, Tommy added: "You can't let anger take over. That way you end up suffering even more.

"You have to remember the good times, the laughs and smiles. There is too much anger and aggression out there today and that's something that needs to be addressed."

Recalling his happiest memories, Tommy said: "One of my favourites of him must have been from only a few weeks before he died.

Cheeky

"I was in the garden playing my guitar when he poked his head around the door and started laughing. He came out and sat with me.

"He wanted me to teach him how to play. We chatted and laughed for a while and that's the last time we ever really spent any proper time together."

Brother Harry said: "Jimmy was a genuinely nice guy. Because I was older but a bit shorter he would tease me about my height and I would call him Lurch.

"We would just have a laugh together and that's what I miss most about him."

Tommy recalled his little brother fondly too, adding: "Everyone loved him. He was such a cheeky chappy kind of person.

"He was a big hit with all of our friends. My mates were always saying what a nice guy he was.

"He was like an amalgamation of all of us. All of our best bits were in Jimmy."

Our view

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THE family of young Jimmy Mizen are extraordinary.

Despite the heartbreak of their brutal loss their dignity never falters. Nor their enduring faith in the fundamental decency of people.

Harbouring neither bitterness nor anger, they question only the casual savagery that robbed them of their loving son and that blights so many other lives.

If only more families shared the Mizens' inspirational values.

There would be less blood on our streets today.

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