Knife victim Charlotte Lawlor (right) pictured with mother Tammy

THE family of a mother who was murdered at a children’s birthday party have said no sentence will ever be enough to help them overcome their loss.

Charlotte Lawlor, who was this week described as kind, adventurous, and the “life of the party”, was killed last September after an argument broke out at her 15-year-old nephew’s birthday celebration.

Her killer, Hope Rowe, had returned to the party and stabbed the 31-year-old with the birthday cake knife in front of children who had been at the party. She was convicted of murder by a jury at Inner London Crown Court on Friday and will be sentenced next month.

Speaking to the Tribune, her mum Tammy said: “Our lives are completely changed, and losing my child, there’s no words, the pain is horrendous.”

She added: “No one should have to lose their child through violence. My child should be burying me, I shouldn’t have been laying my child to rest. No parent should have to do that.”

Charlotte Lawlor’s family outside Inner London Crown Court after Hope Rowe was found guilty of murder

Charlotte’s grandmother Sharon said that “nothing will ever be the same” without her granddaughter, adding: “Of all the things my Charlotte should have been, a memory definitely wasn’t one of them. That’s the saddest thing because all we’ve got now is just memories. From September 15, it was a memory. Charlotte became a memory.”

Ms Lawlor was born in Highbury, and went to primary school in Tottenham before coming back to Islington to attend Arts and Media school in Finsbury Park.

Sharon said: “She grew up round here, even the trees knew her. When she was little she’d be climbing up them. On the day of Charlotte’s funeral, even the trees were crying, all the leaves were coming off. They’ve seen all my grandchildren grow up.”

Ms Lawlor loved music and acting growing up, and went for EastEnders casting. She got a small role aged 12 in the film Notes on a Scandal.

Grandmother Sharon added: “I remember her coming back and saying ‘I’ve met Cate Blanchett, I’ve met all of them. Judi Dench is so nice. Really old, but so nice’.­”

Charlotte with her grandmother Sharon

After leaving college, Ms Lawlor had one son, Riley, who she raised alone. He described memories of going to the funfair in Finsbury Park with his mum, and said she had been his “best friend”.

Riley, 12, said: “We went on this one scary ride, and it was just spinning and twisting. I threw up. Mummy had no sliders or socks on. It was funny.”

He added: “Mum was funny. Whatever we would do, it would always be something silly. Even like running down the stairs, we were always joking around. We would go out of the scooter, the segway, we did a big bike ride across London.”

After 10 years of living in temporary accommodation, and having been moved eight different times, Riley and Charlotte had just moved to a permanent home in Crouch End.

A young Charlotte with mum Tammy

Tammy said: “Everything was going well. She had just met her boyfriend, Lewis, and they were planning to get married. It was the first time ever that I can honestly say that my daughter was happy with someone. She had just got her property that she had waited 10 years for.”

The family said they wished to thank the jury, the police, and prosecution barrister Charlotte Newell, KC, for being “fantastic”.

But Tammy said she was worried the sentence, which will not be life imprisonment, would mean the family never gets the justice they truly want.

She told the Tribune: “I believe that if you take someone’s life, life is life, you can’t think in 20 years’ time, you can walk out and have your life. That ain’t on. Riley’s life has stopped. He’s lost his mum, he’s lost his best friend. I’ve lost my child. We’ve lost everything.

“I believe that if you take someone’s life, your life should be stuck in prison forever.”

Woman convicted of murder

A 33-YEAR-OLD woman was found guilty of murder on Friday, as she was convicted by a jury after a six-week trial at Inner London Crown Court.

Hope Rowe will be jailed after stabbing Charlotte Lawlor to death at a birthday party in Stepney Green in the early hours of September 15. The jury heard her defence team claim that an argument had erupted at the party, after which Ms Rowe feared for her life and took the knife used to cut the birthday cake out of the flat for her own protection.

Ms Rowe’s barrister Clea Topolski KC told the court that when her client returned to the flat several hours later looking for her house keys, she “lost control” and, haunted by memories of past traumas, used the weapon against Ms Lawlor.

But the jury – who returned a verdict in less than an hour – did not accept Ms Rowe’s case for manslaughter.

Prosecuting barrister Charlotte Newell KC had told the court Ms Rowe had not shown “one single shred of remorse” and that her attack had been planned.

Footage of Ms Rowe waving the knife in the lobby of the flats was played in court, and CCTV images showed her reaching around her MMA-trained partner Leigh Holder to stab Ms Lawlor.

A voicemail between Ms Rowe and Mr Holder was heard by jurors with him saying “you absolute idiot, you killed her”. Ms Rowe replied: “Good.”

Mr Holder was convicted of perverting the course of justice by driving his partner away from the scene and helping her dispose of the knife.