The mother of a teenager who was murdered on his 19th birthday has issued a plea to the public to help ensure justice for her son.

Last year, Sharon-Ann Matthews received the phonecall that every parent dreads.

Standing in a shopping centre on her lunch break, she was told that her son had been killed on his first ever holiday alone.

Tyrell Matthews-Burton, from Leyton, was stabbed outside a club in Malia Greece, the day before he was due to fly home in July 2013.

Now, with weeks to go until the trial of the teenager accused of killing him his grieving mother is trying to raise £30,000 to be able to get the truth about what happened to her son.

Under the Greek judicial system, a victim of a crime can participate in the criminal trial as a civil litigant.

This would enable Tyrell’s family to see the evidence and provide the opportunity for their lawyers to cross examine witnesses.

However, the family must meet large costs of participating in the case.

Crucially, travel and living costs of vital witnesses to the murder from Waltham Forest are not paid upfront by the prosecution and there are concerns that some cannot afford to attend.

Mrs Matthews, 43, has launched the ‘Don’t Forget Ty’ campaign in an attempt to raise the money needed to cover costs, with the help of charity The Active Change Foundation.

She said: “We are in a situation now where we have to raise the funds very quickly because for over a year we did not even know when the trial would take place.

“If [the witnesses] do not turn up then they do not take part in the trial.

“They went to school with Tyrell, some of them have known him all their lives. They are struggling to come to terms with what they had to witness. They need to be there – they need the closure, and we need them there to get justice.”

In the months before his death, Mr Matthews-Burton was preparing to apply to university.

He was working for Next in Wood Green having left Redbridge College, where he studied sports science.

He previously attended Barclay Primary School and Leytonstone School.

Mrs Matthews says her son was popular, but shy as a child.

She said: “He was very gentle natured but always wanted to be vocal and speak up about what was right and wrong.

“He wasn’t into following the crowd – from the way he behaved to the way he looked, he was his own person.

“Ty’s attitude was just relax and have a good time - he wasn’t aggressive at all.

“He loved his little sister. He did the crazy stuff with her, the jumping around and the playing loud music.”

Anyone who would like to help donate, sponsor or hold a fundraiser should contact mike@activechangefoundation.org.

For more on this story, see this week's Guardian