Without a Mother's Love: How I Overcame the Haunting Memory of Witnessing My Mother's Murder
Katy Weitz, Amanda Wright

Without a Mother's Love: How I Overcame the Haunting Memory of Witnessing My Mother's Murder

‘It’s so strange how your life can dramatically change from just one event. I now see my life divided into two - before the tragedy and after. Now, the present, will always be after. This is after.’

Amanda Wright was just four years old when she witnessed her mother’s brutal murder. John Dickinson, a family friend, strangled her mother to death in front of her and then he tried to do the same to Amanda.

He laid their lifeless bodies out on their bed, set fire to it and left the house, hoping the fire would conceal the crime.

It was the milkman who saved Amanda’s life, though it was too late for mum Sue.

Amanda spent weeks in hospital for painful skin graft operations on her burned legs before moving in with a father she hardly knew and a cold stepmother.

Haunted by flashbacks and nightmares, the little girl’s life was a daily struggle.

But she found strength in her memories of her mother and fought to overcome her guilt and fear.

It was working with children that brought Amanda happiness and through her job in a crèche she finally began to heal the wounds of her own fractured childhood. 

On her wedding day she held a bouquet of flowers spelling ‘Mum’ that she laid on the grave after the church service, her new husband Glen at her side.

Becoming a mother of two daughters made her life complete.

 Without a Mother's Love is a sad, strange yet beautiful story about a girl who lost everything but found the strength inside herself to make her mother proud.

Book Details:

  • Author: Katy Weitz, , Amanda Wright
  • Published Year: 2016
  • Rights Sold
    • UK: John Blake
Katy Weitz,

Katy Weitz,

Katy Weitz believes that most people have an extraordinary story to tell and she specialises in bringing them to the public's attention. She started her career as a Feature Writer on the national newspapers 18 years ago and within a few short years, rose to become Features Editor. In 2005 she left to set up her own real-life story agency First Features Ltd and since then has sold stories to all parts of the national and international press as well as television. With a remarkable empathy for her clients, she quickly saw that some had stories which couldn’t be told completely in 1500 w...
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Amanda Wright

Amanda Wright

It has taken years for Amanda Wright, 39, to overcome the trauma of witnessing her mother’s brutal murder aged four but now she is finally ready to share her incredible journey in her memoir This is After. Despite being forced to leave school aged 17, she managed to continue her education through her work as a play leader at Strathmore Fun Club. Later she attended university as a mature student and was thrilled to get a first class degree in Early Years & Educational Studies. Amanda, from Stevenage in Hertfordshire, has been married to Glen, a tiler, for 13 years and is a lovin...
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