I became a cop after mum was stabbed once for every year of marriage by sick stepdad… chilling warning still haunts me

MIKE Taggart will never forget the moment he was told his mum was dead – or the later horror of discovering that her killer was the man he had called “dad” all his life.

He was just 15, working on a fairground ice-cream stand, when arrived to deliver the news that would rip his childhood apart.

Mike Taggart’s mum, Donna, was killed after saying she wanted a divorceCredit: Supplied Donna’s last words to Mike were ‘I’ll see you tomorrow. Love you’Credit: WNS After his mum’s murder, Mike went on to become a cop and was presented with an MBE by Princess AnneCredit: WNS

Mike, now 43, tells The Sun: “One of the policemen said, ‘there’s no easy way to tell you this, but your mum’s dead.’ It was like everything just shut down – the weirdest feeling. I remember I kicked him, saying, ‘stop f****ing lying’.”

Mike was driven home by his fairground boss, where the full details of his mum Donna Crist’s death emerged.

His stepfather Derek Evans – who had raised Mike and his sister Becci since he was two and she was three – had her 11 times. He then turned the knife on himself.

The killing came just a day after Donna told Derek she wanted a following years of escalating abuse.

Mike’s nan, Irene, had warned her in a moment that would later haunt the family: “You’ve just signed your own death warrant. Don’t be alone with him.”

But Donna still met Derek at the bank the next day to close their joint account, determined to begin life again.

When she left, Derek followed her back to the new flat she had taken on to rebuild her future. Within minutes, he launched the frenzied attack that ended it.

Mike remembers how Irene first realised something was terribly wrong.

He says: “She’d gone to check up on mum and something through mum’s front window caught her eye. When she peered through it she could see mum on the floor, with blood around her mouth.”

A neighbour’s husband kicked the door in.

He says: “The neighbour was a nurse. She ran straight to nan and said, ‘she’s gone’. They found him lying next to her but still alive. The neighbour apparently told her husband, ‘Don’t let her in. He’s made a right mess of her’.

“11 times he’d stabbed her – once for every year they’d been . There were no defence wounds. She must have died instantly.

“At some point the handle of his knife came off and he must have taken a break because he’d placed the broken handle on Mum’s mantelpiece. But then he carried on.

Derek Evans was convicted of murder in 1998Credit: WNS

“He then cut himself. He had around 38 knife wounds, but because there was no handle on the knife there wasn’t as much impact. He had a punctured lung but it wasn’t as serious.

“I remember at the time, when he was taken to hospital, we all said, ‘we hope he dies.’ Not a nice thought, but that’s what we first felt. Then we wanted him to live so that he could face justice.”

Final touching words

Mike’s last conversation with his mum is etched into his memory.

He says: “She was working one of her late shifts where she tutored for the charity Mencap and I was at home with my sister Becci, who was 17 at the time and looking after me. Mum would always phone around half past nine just to do the ‘goodnights’.

“I said, ‘I’m going now, Dirty Dancing’s just started. You know how much I love that film.’ She laughed, ‘b*****dy hell, you and that film! Alright then, love, I’ll see you tomorrow. Love you.’ And that was it. I said, ‘love you too’.

“If you could have any final words, you couldn’t have asked for better but it’s still that pain of her not being able to say it again.”

Mike grew up in , North , after his mum moved there from Liverpool when he was two.

Soon afterwards, Donna met and married Derek, a divorced lorry driver who was 17 years her senior.

11 times he’d stabbed her – once for every year they’d been married. There were no defence wounds. She must have died instantly

Mike Taggart

He charmed her in the pub where Irene worked, but beneath the smooth talk was a deeply misogynistic and controlling man.

“He’d cook tea when Mum was working and seemed generally OK when I was young,” Mike says. “But he would always want to be in control. He’d say, ‘You are my wife. You will do what I tell you to do’.”

Donna dreamed of becoming a nurse and secretly studied at the library because she knew Derek would disapprove.

When he found out, he sneered: “You’re only ever going to be a glorified a**e wiper. So what’s the point?”

He was racist, homophobic and domineering. Mike remembers being 12 when Derek banned him from dance classes – his biggest passion.

Mike says: “His attitude was very much, ‘only gay people dance. Poofs are disgusting’. It felt very Billy Elliot.”

“He dragged me to the garage and forced me to punch a teddy bear. The teddy was hung up over a rafter.

“I remember he’d been . He had spittle in his mouth. It was all flying in my face. It was a bizarre test, to prove my masculinity.”

Violent home

Mike and his older sister, Becci, had been raised by Derek since they were youngCredit: Supplied Donna dreamed of becoming a nurse and secretly studied at the libraryCredit: WNS

Police were called to the house repeatedly. The first time Mike was just six.

He says: “My uncle had him pinned to the floor because, unbeknownst to us at the time, Dad had hit Mum. The neighbours had called the police. My sister and I were sat on the stairs watching dad being dragged out of the house after he’d tried to lock himself in the bathroom.

“It was terrifying. We were aware something wasn’t quite right but he was still our dad. He was still our protector. We still loved him at the time.”

Donna often fled to Irene’s house in the middle of the night with the children.

Mike and Becci would lie in bed playing games to distract themselves from the screaming at home.

“By a certain age the fights were so frequent I think we’d somewhat normalised them,” he admits.

At 13, Mike begged his mum to leave.

“She said, ‘another couple of years, you’re done in school and we’re gone’.”

By July 1997, the abuse reached a new level. Mike’s uncle turned up at his work saying: “Big trouble. Dad’s battered mum.”

Derek had lifted Donna’s dress over her head in the street and humiliated her, before beating her.

She had fled to her uncle’s in Manchester. Shortly after, Derek took an . Even when sectioned, he tormented her.

Mike says: “He was phoning her saying, ‘I can’t live without you. I can’t imagine life without you.’ Mum raced back and I never understood why, but now, speaking to other women, I get it.”

Fleeing home

After he was released, Mike witnessed Derek physically attack Donna for the first time.

He came home to find Derek drinking, with cans of Castlemaine Four X littering the lounge.

Donna was sat in the far corner. Derek demanded she sit next to him, escalating from emotional manipulation to fury.

Mike says: “The next minute he literally just jumped up off the couch, and basically straddled over her saying, ‘you’re my f***ing wife, and you do what I f***ing tell you’.”

Mike hauled him off.

He says: “I said, ‘take your hands off my f***ing mum.’ He said, ‘I’m your father’. I said, ‘you’re no f***ing dad of mine’.”

He shouted for his mum and sister to run. Derek chased them, but Mike placed himself between them. Donna never returned home after that.

While staying with Irene, Derek kept appearing at the door. One night he had to be physically thrown out by Mike’s grandfather. Donna finally said: “I’ve had enough. I want a divorce. I want nothing to do with you.”

Mike recalls Derek’s unsettling behaviour the night before the murder, when he returned to the family home to grab some clothes for work.

He said: “Dad was obviously in his own head… it’s actually quite chilling thinking about it. What was he thinking? Because that was the night before he killed her.”

The next day Donna met Derek at the bank to close their joint account – despite Irene’s grim warning. She then returned to her new flat.

“Nan turned up 25 minutes later,” Mike says. “And in that time he had killed her.”

In 1998, Derek was convicted of murder at in .

He claimed he remembered nothing. He received a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 11 years.

“At his parole hearing, I had to read a victim impact statement out in front of him and he didn’t stop staring at me,” Mike says. “Then, when he didn’t get out, he appealed and said my mum had driven him to kill her and that she was actually his abuser.”

He died earlier this year having never spoken to Mike since the murder.

Helping victims

The trauma of losing his mum shaped Mike’s life.

Irene bought him tap shoes immediately after Donna’s death so he could dance freely.

He became a Bluecoat at Pontins – where he met his husband, Garry, who he married in 2010. The pair have now been together for 24 years.

Then he decided he wanted to dedicate his life to helping support others in need.

He joined the police in 2005 as a civilian, became a regular officer in 2008, and rose to Detective Sergeant in public protection for North Wales Police, working in .

Despite suffering from PTSD, he is an ambassador for White Ribbon UKCredit: WNS

His tireless awareness campaigning earned him an , presented in 2022 at Windsor Castle by Princess Anne.

He now supports White Ribbon UK’s We Speak Up campaign, aimed at encouraging men and boys to challenge sexist jokes, misogynistic language and harmful behaviour towards women and girls.

He’s been an ambassador with the charity for over a decade – ever since seeing their pin-badges at his sister Becci’s wedding – where she used them as favours to highlight awareness for .

For Mike, his work is deeply personal.

He says: “Talking about mum has become self-therapy to me. I’ve been diagnosed with . I suffer with anxiety. They will always be a part of me but I know how to manage them.”

The recognition he’s had has brought him to tears.

He says: “There was one lady who had been physically and sexually abused throughout an 18-year relationship… Afterwards, she showed me a tattoo of the collar numbers of the four police officers who had helped her. I was one of them. I sat there in McDonald’s with a tear in my eye. She said: ‘Well, you’ve helped to change my life’.’”

Mike hopes sharing his mum’s story will escape safely.

Talking about mum has become self-therapy to me

Mike Taggart

He says: “You need to be kind to yourself and realise that the predicament you’re in is not your own fault… even if you’re not being physically abused, having a partner who controls you is still abuse. Help is out there.”

He’s also keeping his mum’s legacy alive – and through her story, helping others.

Mike says: “Even though it’s nearly 30 years since she’s died, she’s still not forgotten. It sounds so cliched but she really was larger than life and had such a wonderful big, smile.

“ She tried to get out of her relationship – albeit not with the best outcome – but she did try. Just having the opportunity to use her story to reach others is so important and all these years on people are still hearing and seeing my mum’s face.

“I know she’d be super proud.”

Mike now shares his mum’s story to help othersCredit: WNS