Childhood sweethearts had planned a life together before tragic death

A Londonderry teenager who died following an altercation in Londonderry city centre was planning a life abroad for himself and his childhood sweetheart before his tragic death, his girlfriend has said.
By The Newsroom
Published 27th Sep 2017, 15:48 BST
Updated 28th Sep 2017, 14:09 BST
Jordan McConomy and Leah Kelly pictured togetherJordan McConomy and Leah Kelly pictured together
Jordan McConomy and Leah Kelly pictured together

Jordan McConomy, 19, died following an incident at William Street in Londonderry in the early hours of Sunday morning.

He had been in a relationship with Leah Kelly, 18, since he was just 15-years-old..

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Leah, who was with him when he died, said: “We were always going to be together, nothing ever changed, we were going to have children with each other and we used to talk about when we were old together.

“I was going out with him for four years. We met when he texted me — he was so forward. I was 14 and he was 15. We were going to be together forever, even at that age we just knew. Everybody always said it.

“We had a type of love nobody else could even experience. I’m just really grateful that I got to experience it at such a young age and I’ll have that for the rest of my life.”

She continued: “I’ve never met anyone else like him and he’ll always be with me. Anyone who met him just fell in love with him. He was such a gentleman, he was so caring and he would do anything for people. He would go on like a wee lad when he was with his friends but when he was with me he just wanted a wee back rub or a wee tickle on the back of his head, a wee cuddle.”

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Leah, who plans to become a specialist neo-natal nurse, explained how they had planned to travel the world together once they were fully qualified. She said Jordan, an apprentice joiner who was in his last year of training, wanted to live in Amsterdam for a year before moving to America to carve out a new life.

“We went to Amsterdam in July and he fell in love with the place,” she said. “We said ‘right, after I go to uni we’re coming here to live for a year’. He just couldn’t get enough of it, just walking around the place.

“We were going to go to Manchester for university and then we were going to go to Amsterdam. I’m specialising in neo-natal nursing and we were moving over to America after that. He didn’t want to go to Canada because he says it was too cold so we were going to go to America where he would be a joiner.”

She added: “When you seen him he just captivated you. If you were upset you would just a get a wee smile off him. If we ever had a wee fight he would just turn around and say ‘love you’ and that would be it. I just loved him. We were always going to be together.”

An 18-year-old man remains in police custody as PSNI inquiries into Mr McConomy’s death continue.

Related topics:AmsterdamManchester