Sports-mad young father Dean Antoine Young was "the best daddy in the whole world''.

The mother of his four-year-old son Shiloh (Shi) said he would have done anything to protect and look after him, no matter what it took.

And on the night he died, she believes the 31-year-old was rushing to her house in Border Lane, Pembroke, because he feared for the safety of his son.

Had he known Shiloh was not there, things could have been very different.

Trina Todd lived with Dean until last March when she took her son and moved out of their Princess Estate, Pembroke home. For a while, their relationship was hostile, but she said Dean never let it alter the strong bond he had with his son.

"Shi was his world,'' said a composed, but very quiet Trina.

"They were totally inseparable. He really was the best daddy in the whole world.

"Everything he did was for Shiloh. He couldn't deal with it when we split up and he was no longer living with him.

"Dean made sure he saw him almost every day, but he would telephone without fail just to speak to him.

"He was always buying him things. He bought him a whole set of children's videos and they would just sit and watch them together.'' The day Dean died, he had called Trina's house in the early hours because he had been unable to reach her earlier.

It was pure coincidence that at the time he rang, she was arguing with Burgess over her need for space from their relationship.

Dean is alleged to have heard the mother of his child scream as Burgess was punching and choking her. He rushed to her aid from his own home nearby, totally unaware of what lay ahead of him.

Trina went on: "The night he died he thought Shiloh was at my house. He didn't know I had taken him to my mother's house earlier on.

"I know he came over when he heard me screaming because he feared for Shiloh.

If he had known Shi was not there, it might never have happened.'' After Dean died on October 9 last year, Trina told her son that his daddy had gone to heaven.

Shiloh began to have nightmares and became aggressive at school.

He couldn't understand why his daddy didn't telephone any more or play football with him.

"It has been hard to explain to him because he is so young,'' Trina continued. "He thinks his daddy is coming back. He was so close to him -- I know he misses him every day still.

"Shiloh looks at pictures of Dean all the time and says `Daddy, please talk to me.' "They simply meant the world to each other.'' Dean, who was known as Big Dean or Quick Draw to his friends, played in a number of football teams around the Island and was a huge Manchester United fan.

One of his biggest desires was for his son to follow in his sporting footsteps.

"He was teaching Shi to play football. He wanted Shiloh to be good at sports,'' added Trina. "He's too young now, but I am going to get him in all the different teams and classes when he turns five.

"I know that it is what Dean would have wanted.'' Trina was out on the driveway the night Burgess and Dean came to blows in her kitchen.

She has not stepped foot back into the house since, nor has she spoken to Burgess -- the man she left Dean for.

Now she lives with Shiloh at her mother's house in Southampton, where she is trying to bring some normality back to her son's life, while rebuilding her own.

The administrator, who met Dean in 1993 while she was still a student at university in Springfield, Massachusetts, said: "I never expected things to turn out like they did.

"I'm very sorry about what happened.

"People say everything happens for a reason, but I don't understand why this had to happen. If it was Dean's time to go, surely he didn't have to go like this.

"Dean was killed and my son will have to grow up without a father now.'' Father's pride: Dean Young plays with son Shiloh in this undated family photo.

Shiloh's mother Trina Todd said that despite her separation with Dean, he continued to have daily contact with his son.