Charity football match in Coppull as community gathers to remember Dean Brewin

Dean Brewin, whose mother Sharon Edwards is serving life in prison for murdering her husband at their home in Chorley, died in May.

His girlfriend had broken up with him after she had to be treated at Royal Preston Hospital following an alcohol-fuelled attack by Dean.

Dean had confessed to a mental health worker that he had been emotionally and physically abused as a child by his 43-year-old mother.

Close friends David Quinn and Chris Bowman decided to host the memorial match in order to remember and honour their friend and fellow footballer at Coppull FC.

Recalling being given the news of Dean’s death David, 26, said: “It was the worst day of my life. I was out on a ferry in the middle of the sea waiting to come back from Ireland.

“I got a call from his boss who had gone round to check on Dean. He had tried calling him up about work but no response so he went round to his house. He went away a bit worried and contacted the police. They gained entry through an upstairs window which was open.

“I just know that they found him lying on a couch.”

Dean, a duct servicing engineer, had hit his girlfriend following a night out in Bolton in April.

He had left a video apologising for his drunken attack on her.

An inquest heard that Dean died at his home in Horwich on May 8.

He had confided then about his upbringing by his abusive mother to mental health practitioner Susan Hargreaves.

She told the inquest that he had told her he ‘did not want to be a thug’.

The coroner also heard from Dean’s grandfather, with whom he lived for some time, that he was a “special person” and “the life and soul of the party”.

David, who worked alongside Dan as a duct servicing engineer, told the Guardian he did not know why his friend had taken his own life.

“We kind of knew that there was something not quite right and that he was troubled but we didn’t know what. He asked us to leave him alone,” he said.

“It was a shock, it took a while to sink in. It just didn’t feel real for days after.

“I didn’t know how to feel it was just surreal until the funeral and then until I carried the coffin the full wieght of his body it hit home.

“There’s all sorts of different things that remind me of him. I just try and be thankful that I knew him.”