A BOY who took up karate to help him deal with the death of his 23-year-old brother has become a black belt eight years after the tragedy.

Kye Slater-Fox, of Walmer Close, Chingford, was just five years old when his brother Louis died after a motorcycle crash in London's Docklands in 2004.

Three years later, to help him cope with the grief, Kye took up karate. Five years down the line, at the age of 13, he has now achieved the sport's highly-acclaimed black belt.

Kye said: "Louis was really sporty. He did basketball and went to the gym, so it's nice to be sporty as well. I think he'd be really proud of me. "I'm happy to have got the black belt, but at the time I just felt relief."

The teenager had to fight 50 people to earn the belt, which he will keep for the rest of his life, and has also received funding from the GLL Sports Foundation to train in GLL gyms around London.

His mum, Kaye Fox, said: "I'm so impressed. After Louis's incident it got to the point where I thought I had to get Kye into something to give him a focus on something else in life."

The 50-year-old childcare advisor now travels the country with Kye to watch as he competes in fights, recently seeing him win silver in a competition in Ipswich.

She said: "He really enjoys it, though I do find it hard to watch sometimes. Obviously we will never stop missing Louis, but we are a close-knit family and we all support each other."

Louis's girlfriend, Tanya Macitoglu, gave birth to a baby girl shortly after his death, and his name lives on through Kayla-Louis, who is now aged eight and visits her father's grave at Chingford Mount Cemetery whenever she can.

Kye's sister Kalee, now 26, named her 10-month-old son Jacob-Louis in honour of her brother.

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