I remember at University when John first said his friend Steven was going to come and stay with him and Anneliese. Rachel, Anne-Fay and I were really excited about meeting him. He was a very welcome addition to our student family and we knew he'd be someone special because he was John's friend.

Brighton has the happiest memories for me, partly because of nostalgia and being students but also because we were all so close: smoking cigars at various pubs; odd things we bought from the car boot in Hollingbury; parties and Rachel's dad's wine. At the Mufti's it was Steven who found the key to the garage, where we were sure we'd find some kind of torture devices. Actually it was just lots of useful stuff and we were really surprised! At the Princes he and John tormented the night porter one night by phoning each of the four phones in the reception area, in turn, in the middle of the night.

I remember Steven's various jobs: cleaning the pier, the hotel, but especially the day he worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken. He put the uniform on for us to see, beige slacks and a polyester flat cap. I don't think he ever gave it back it was such a good look for him. The stories he told us about the newsletter at Amex, especially the 'amazing facts', like Cliff Richard's Mistletoe and Wine - an ironic hit as Cliff is allergic to both mistletoe and wine.

He came to see us in Bolton with Stephen and Ranj. We had too much to drink, seemed to sit in every seat in Frankie and Benny's and then went to watch Blade 2. Steven and I stole a huge roll of loo paper coz I suddenly remembered we hadn't got any at home and it was too late to buy any. Steven hid it under his coat as we left. We went together to see The Revenger's Tragedy at the Birmingham Film Festival clasping popcorn, nachos and coke to find the auditorium filled with very serious people who looked disapprovingly at us. The film was terrible. There was a q&a at the end with the Director and we just couldn't take any more
so filed out shamefaced exept Steven who said, 'What a load of toss' very loudly. John and I were astonished by the similarity of the main character in the film Brick to Steven and were planning to take Steven along to see it with us all and just point at him.

We moved to Birmingham in 2005 to be near Stephen, Ranj, Lori and Steven. We met up for coffee and saw him in Waterstones putting paper human skeletons together. I read all his reviews of books - masterpieces of sardonic wit. He came for tea, we talked about Oblivion (the game) watched Japanese films and hung out - we even went bowling. Last summer we sat in the garden having a barbeque and playing swingball with Lori. Steven did a heroic job of blowing up a gym ball for an extra seat in the garden. He was a brilliant uncle to Lori. She got the best presents from him, including a set of soft toy viruses like athlete's foot and plague. We also got to see the look on his face when, as a mark of favour and affection, Lori took her potty right next to him and did a pooh.

The last time I saw him we were watching snooker and eating veggie sausages and fishfingers with mash and gravy. He said his mum used to give him money on a Friday night to buy his tea. Whatever he wanted. He always got a mars bar, a coke, a packet of crisps and a bun. They had them waiting for him at Southams.

I'm so glad he met our son and so sorry that he won't see him growing up. Steven was our friend, we loved him and his death leaves a huge hole.

Sam