A woman "broke down" after winning a pageant in memory of her murdered godson.
Trena Lee, 44, who grew up in Toxteth, was a godparent to 26-year-old Dre Estridge, who was stabbed in the heart at his own home in Dingle. Trene Colecozy-Rogers, a friend of Dre was jailed for life, with a minimum sentence of 13 years, 201 days.
Since the day her godson died, Trena, who now lives in Knowsley, was looking for a way to make sure Dre was remembered and is on a mission to encourage people not to take knives out with them or to use them. When her modelling and talent agency, StarNow told her about the Beauty and Brains Pageant, she knew she wanted to enter in memory of the 26-year-old.
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Trena said: "As soon as I read about it [the pageant] I knew I wanted to do this for my Dre. I asked his mum and she told me to go for it, so I did.
"It was brought down from 200 girls to a final 15 and I wasn't even expecting to get that far. You had to get votes, and for every 10 votes you got £10 for charity. I raised £2,300 and got through to the finals. It was amazing, I was over the moon."
Trena travelled to Essex with some friends and Dre's mum, Dijuana, for the pageant itself on July 12, where she walked on a catwalk and was interviewed by a panel of judges. The 44-year-old said she was "shocked" and "overwhelmed" when she found out she won the classic category of the pageant.
She added that it was the first time she saw Dre's mum "really smile" since his death over two years ago. She told The ECHO: "I really didn't think I would win.
"I told them that I grew up in care and was in 36 kids homes, and if I won that I wanted to speak to disadvantaged children in homes and tell them about my experiences, Dre, and knife crime. When I spoke to the judges after they said as soon as I started speaking to them they 'loved me'."
All the money raised by Trena went to the community project Drop a Knife; Save a Life campaign, which sees disadvantaged children get involved in a 10 week boxing programme and encourages them to get off the streets.
Trena said: "We still cry over Dre, his death ripped our family apart and left us broken. Every time we see another person die [of knife crime] we break down and all the feelings just come right back.
"I now want to use my platform to make sure Dre is remembered and make sure people in kids homes know there's another option rather than going the wrong way into drugs, violence and crime."
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