For 12 years, Ruby Hewitt Chadwick’s birthdays have been tinged with sadness as they remind her of the dad so cruelly and needlessly taken from her.
Within days of celebrating her turning three, 20-year-old Adam Chadwick was gunned down in a case of mistaken identity.
And the killers who “robbed her of a part of her childhood” have yet to face justice.
So Ruby, 15, is now speaking out for the first time to plead for anyone who may have information to help end her agony.
She said: “Someone knows who did this. Please do the right thing and come forward, we just want justice. Me and my family need some closure on this.”
Adam was visiting sister Gemma in Leeds, West Yorks, in June 2008 when a woman knocked asking for “Michelle”. He told her nobody of that name lived at the house.
But she returned later with three masked men – and Adam was shot as they tried to force their way in.
Ruby said of the killing’s ongoing impact: “All my friends have dads and they’re close.
“When I see them doing things with their dads, it makes me wish I could have that relationship with my dad.
“It makes me angry the killers have never been caught. But I’m just sad when that time of year comes. I do celebrate my birthday, I try to enjoy it. But then I’m back to being sad as it’s the anniversary and it’s always in the back of my mind.”
Despite appeals, a £10,000 reward and a BBC Crimewatch reconstruction, no one has been convicted over Adam’s death.
Ruby said: “It would mean everything to me if we found out who it was. I hope it would make my life and my family’s lives a bit easier knowing justice had been done.
“I just hope somebody comes forward and does the right thing.”
Detective Superintendent Jim Dunkerley added: “We remain absolutely committed to doing everything we can to find the people responsible for Adam’s murder and to get his family the answers they still desperately need.”
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