The family of a young man hacked to death with a samurai sword have told of their joy at discovering he has a son - from a chance meeting on a bus.

Gill Mills of West Drayton had spent the last eight years trying to come terms with the loss of her 22-year-old son Chris.

Then last month Gill, of Emden Close, was sitting near two children on a bus when one said to the other three words that would change her life forever: “That’s your nan.”

Chris was killed at his home in West Drayton by a man he considered his friend in a revenge attack following a scuffle in a pub.

Gavin Ward, then 25, was jailed for 17 years for the murder.

Back then Chris’s devastated family had no idea that he had fathered an 18-month-old child with his ex-girlfriend Cara Ashton.

The Mills family and Cara Ashton with her two children, (left) Ollie the son of Christopher Mills who was killed in a Samurai sword attack in West Drayton in 2007, mother Gill Mills, Cara's daughter Patsy, Kara Ashton former girlfriend of Christopher Mills, Kelly sister of Christopher Mills, step-father Jim Mills and Carry Mills at their home in West Drayton. Picture: David Dyson
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His nine-year-old son - Ollie Christopher Ashton - had been told all about his father, as had Ollie’s seven-year-old half-sister Patsy.

Last month Cara was on the bus with Ollie and Patsy when a group of rowdy school children got on and blocked the doorway.

The bus could not pull off so Cara told them to move down.

Gill - sitting behind with her daughter Casey and both wearing necklaces with Chris’s face on them - commented that they 'should teach common sense at school'.

Cara, 29, explained: “Then I turned around and saw their necklaces with Chris’s photo on.

“I said: ‘Are you Chris’s mum? I’m Cara’.

“Then Patsy turned to Ollie and said: ‘That’s your nan’.”

Cara Ashton, with her children Ollie and Patsy. Cara was the former girlfriend of Christopher Mills who was killed in a Samurai sword attack at his home in West Drayton, in 2007. Picture David Dyson

The exchange left Gill and Chris’s sister Casey stunned.

Cara told Gill that Ollie was her grandson and agreed to take a paternity test. In the meantime the two families spent time getting to know one another.

The DNA results came back positive on October 8.

Gill said: “I wanted the whole damn world to know.

“It’s like a little bit of Chris is still alive. He’s a gift from heaven.”

Cara said: “I knew Ollie was Chris’s but I completely understood why they wanted to be absolutely sure.

“With everything going on at the time I didn’t contact them. I just got on with life I suppose.

“But when I saw her I couldn’t not tell them.

“It’s a shame I didn’t have the courage to earlier but now we’re just focused on making the future as best we can for Ollie and Patsy.”

Chris was the first of several targets it was claimed had 'disrespected' a friend of Ward in the pub fight on New Year’s Eve 2006.

A woman and child staying at Chris’s home hid in a cupboard when two days later Ward forced his way in and stabbed Chris in the thigh, severing an artery.

Ward and accomplice Noel Moran, both of Yiewsley, denied murder but were both convicted and jailed for life.

Now Cara and the Mills family - parents Gill and Jim and their twin daughters Casey and Kerry - are making up for lost time.

Cara said: “Ollie is just like his dad. It’s nice to have his dad’s family around because it’s been hard for him.

“I’ve always told him things about Chris but I couldn’t tell him everything.

“Ollie knows his dad got hurt by one of his friends and died but he doesn’t understand why someone would do that and he misses having a dad.

Cara added: “When everyone else is being serious about something he just sits there with this great big smile on his face.

“Chris was exactly the same like that. He has the same smile.

“Even Ollie says to me - ‘It’s because I’m like my dad’.”

Chris’s dad Jim, who suffered a heart attack after his son’s death, said: “Since we found out it’s kind of got us out of what we were going through.

“Cloud nine couldn’t be high enough.

“To have Chris’s offspring, it’s brought a bit of life back for me.”

Chris’s sister, Casey, 18, said: “It’s like a dream come true. We have a bit of Chris with us.”

Gill, who called for a change in the law governing police searches in the years after her son's murder , added: “The last few weeks have been like a whirlwind. It’s difficult to grasp.

“Before I didn’t like the idea of moving on. I didn’t want to. But Ollie is a gentle nod towards the future - a future I didn’t want to look at.”

Kerry, also 18, said: “Ollie is a lot like him.

“The things he does, it reminds you of Chris. His mannerisms are just like him.

“It’s all happened so fast and was so unexpected.”