THE father of boy who died after being punched on a night “strongly” wanted to meet the person — a teenager at the time — responsible.

Dave said: “I had heard about restorative justice, it was being talked about and what I understood it seemed to be a good idea, it seemed a classic win win situation, everybody would potentially benefits from it.

“I strongly wanted to meet him, I still wanted to hear him say certain things, I wanted some reassurance about certain matters, I wanted to find out things that did not come out in court and I knew he could probably help me.

“The main thing people should realise about RJ is its primarily a vehicle that gives the victim a voice if they want it.

“It gives them the chance to be able to say the kind of things they really want to say. It gives them the chance to say it directly to the person.”

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Ellie went to meet the person who broke into her grandma Pam’s house while she was staying over.

Pam said: “I have always been comfortable in my own home, it took all that way, it just does not feel like your own home.

“Ellie was hysterical for quite a little while and crying but all the time she kept saying she wanted to meet him, I was saying you do not want to meet him, he is not a nice person.

“ She just wanted to see him, whether it was anger or tell him what she thought.”

Ellie said: “I wanted to meet him because I was really angry and just wanted to tell him all the stuff he’s done to us, how we feel and just wanted to now answers and see if change anything.”

Pam decided to use the RJ scheme after speaking to her granddaughter and thinking it may help her.

Ellie said the meeting was “good”.

“It helped me become more confident and don’t have to check my doors all the time now," she said.

She left him with a card stating he could choose to be “batman or a joker” ­— which he now carries around.