A son who murdered his alcoholic father with a knife in a fit of rage as a teenager after being belittled and goaded by him has spoken out for the first time.

Luke Onyett was locked up in 2004 for fatally stabbing body-building champion Michael Onyett after an argument broke out between the “binge drinking” pair. In an exclusive interview with KentOnline he speaks of the remorse and guilt he feels every day.

The now 39-year-old is sharing his story for the first time in the hope it can serve as a cautionary tale, and to call for ex-offenders to receive more support when they’re released from prison to break the cycle of reoffending.

Sitting down at the Robert Pocock Wetherspoons in Gravesend with a Carlsberg in hand, he strikes a calm persona for someone who has taken a life, and not one you would associate with a shocking killing two decades earlier.

Onyett’s tragic story began when he was 12 years old and abandoned by his mother, leaving him to live with his father who would often spend nights out drinking, leaving his young son on his own.

His behavioural problems started at a young age, which saw him moved around various schools in the town, including Kings Farm Primary School, Chantry Community Academy and Lawn Road Primary School.

Soon, just like his father, he would turn to drink and by the age of 18 he was described in court as a “heavy drinker”.

In July 2004, Maidstone Crown Court heard how the then youth plunged a knife into former Kent body-building champion Mr Onyett four times after being belittled and goaded by him as the two men embarked on a drinking binge with other self-proclaimed alcoholics at a flat in Cobham Street, Gravesend, in December 2003.

One of the wounds severed a main artery in his thigh, leading to the victim’s death. Onyett also stabbed Robert Jordan in the thigh as he tried to take the weapon from him.

Onyett Sr, it was said, was belittling his son and laughing at him. He pushed the youth violently across the room. The teenager picked up a chair and threw it at his father.

He then reached for a knife on the draining board. Before being stabbed, his father had been mockingly shouting to him to stick the blade in his chest.

Opening up about the life-changing incident, which he struggles to recall in detail, the father-of-one explained: “It’s still to this day as blotchy as it was then. I don’t know if that’s my mind refusing to acknowledge what happened. I still can’t remember exactly to this day.

“I do remember the build up, arguing and then my father pushing me and me flying across the room because he was a bigger lad than me.

“I hit a wicker chair and I threw it at him which he brushed aside. I looked up and there was something on the draining board so I grabbed that and he was goading me saying ‘go on then, go on’ and pointing to his chest.

“I put it in his leg instead and then I just blacked out and the next thing I remember properly after that is the police being there.

“But I also have some memories of going up to the neighbours and asking them to call an ambulance.

“I can remember seeing his face and then waking up in the police station. When I woke up in the station I thought I had been arrested for being drunk and disorderly.

“It’s like a jigsaw still after all this time. I have flashbacks about it every day without a shadow of a doubt. But there’s still certain pieces of that puzzle I can’t remember.”

Upon waking up, Onyett said he was in “disbelief” about what had happened and didn’t quite appreciate the prison setting he would soon find himself in.

“Of course I have guilt about what happened,” he added. “I didn’t mean to do it. I know that for a fact. I still loved my dad.”

When I woke up in the station I thought I had been arrested for being drunk and disorderly

Returning to his home town where he was born and raised came with some emotional heartache and frequent reminders of his father.

Just a couple of minutes away from where were are talking is the “house of horrors” where Michael Onyett was killed and his son is constantly reminded of his old man when he bumps into some of his old friends at the pub.

The convicted killer detailed how an honest answer given to his parole board hearing prompted some questioning from the committee.

He explained: “They asked me how I feel about it now and I told them there’s nothing I can do about it apart from move forward.

“They said they hoped I would be remorseful and sorry and I told them of course I was, but what do they want me to do?

“Sit there and dwell on it and make myself depressed? I’ve just got to keep moving forward. It’s all I can do.”

Onyett was handed a mandatory life sentence for the 2003 killing but was shown some leniency from Judge Andrew Patience QC over the “wretched life” that led him into daily drinking sessions with his alcoholic father and other older men.

He reduced the usual starting point of 15 years before being considered for parole to 12.

Speaking at the time, the judge said: “In light of the matters to which I have referred, I am going to order a lesser period than that.

“This is not to make light of your father’s life but to give a just reflection of the matters I have listed.”

Onyett, a West Ham fan, detailed how he struggled with life in jail until “something clicked in his head” and he decided he wanted to make the most of his life.

He began finishing several courses and helped as a youth worker talking to young people who were going down the wrong path and involved in knife crime.

Such was his good work he was allowed to travel around the South East, occasionally speaking to groups of young children about his life.

Eventually, after 10 years inside, he was released and found himself living with an ex-partner he went on to have a child with – someone he said is an amazing and perfect person to raise his child.

But Onyett says life beyond bars has been equally hard.

He claims ex-offenders are essentially left to struggle when released from prison, even more so if they’ve committed a similar offence to his.

He also claims that on several occasions that when he has had to disclose what he was in prison for, he has been fobbed off and saw people’s demeanour change towards him.

“You just know they’re not going to ring you back,” he said. “It’s just luck getting a job after prison. Nearly every time they won’t give you a chance.”

The Northfleet resident wants more support and funding for people coming out of prison to be able to get on their feet and start a life again.

He himself has been sofa surfing at friends’ homes for nearly three years while he waits for accommodation.

Onyett said the biggest struggles he and other ex-offenders face when they’re released from prison are finding somewhere to live and getting a job.

He added: “What people don’t seem to understand is that these people are being kicked out of prison and they’re sleeping rough, like outside Tescos, and they’ve got to eat, they’ve got to survive.

“They’ve got nothing. They’ve got no support, no help and no housing.

“What do you expect them to do? You can’t judge them and say, ‘oh, they’ll be back in jail again soon’.

“What would you rather do – spend Christmas sleeping outside Tescos in the freezing cold and probably die of pneumonia or go and steal a sandwich, hope you get arrested and get a room in prison?”

Onyett believes more funding should be put into places like food banks or some sort of accommodation for ex-offenders.

The system is quick enough to go and help people who don’t need their help but not others

“A lot of people just need a helping hand,” he adds. “A roof over their head, electricity or a ticket for a food bank.

“For ex-offenders, especially lifers, who are being booted out there’s nothing for them and then people moan when they end up back in jail.

“The system is quick enough to go and help people who don’t need their help but not others.”

After ringing up several companies since losing his job as an agency worker at Gravesham council at the end of last year, Onyett has been ringing around companies and businesses looking for a new role.

It’s now more than four months on and he’s had no luck.