Debbie Morrissey, her husband and their extended family at the London Irish Centre on Friday night

FRIENDS, family and rockers gathered in Camden Town on Friday night to celebrate the life of “intelligent” and “charming” Stephen Holmes – a rock ’n’ roll music fan who was murdered by serial killer Dennis Nilsen at the age of 14.

To commemorate what would have been Mr Holmes’ 60th birthday, his sister Debbie Morrissey transformed the London Irish Centre into their favourite rockabilly night they used to go to in the late 1970s.

DJs and old friends Ian Taylor, Natasha Leigh-Coggin, Jesse Birdsall and John Morris played a range of rockabilly, rock and roll and rhythm and blues records on stage, set against a slideshow of family photos. Ms Morrissey, her father Frank and her extended family swung across a dancefloor filled with people in “drainpipe” trousers and “Teddy Boy” get-ups. Friends who had not seen each other in decades reunited over a Guinness at the bar.

Stephen lived with his family in Abbey Road, West Hampstead. He and his sister attended George Eliot Primary School followed by Hampstead School in Westbere Road. Every Friday in his teens, Stephen could be found dancing with his friends and sister at the Bobby Sox – a rocking party with 50p entry held in a hall at the back of the now-closed White Horse pub in Willesden.

Stephen Holmes

With their crew of friends, Stephen, decked out in denim and Converse, travelled across London to visit rock ’n’ roll clubs, including the Lyceum, where their father Frank also attended.

The Bobby Sox was the last place Stephen was seen before he disappeared on his way home after a night out on December 30, 1978. Police did not investigate the case at the time, incorrectly dismissing Stephen as a runaway. The family only got confirmation of what happened to him 28 years later when police reopened the case and the family are grateful for how it was dealt with by the cold case detectives. While in prison Nilsen admitted to murdering Stephen in his home – the first of up to 16 young men.

The party at the Irish Centre was a way to say thank you and raise funds for the Missing People charity, who were instrumental in supporting Stephen’s mother Kay in her search for her son. They put out TV appeals after news programmes and were celebrated for never disregarding the family.

The Irish Centre holds a special place in Ms Morrissey’s heart. Born to Irish parents, her dad Frank used to work at the Camden Square adventure playground.

Debbie Morrissey and her friend Susan Barclay dancing to Rock Around The Clock, the first record Stephen bought

Addressing the crowd on Friday, Ms Morrissey said: “Stephen Dean Holmes was born at home in West Hampstead on the 22nd of March 1964 to Kathleen ‘Kay’ Holmes of Bansha in County Tipperary and Frances ‘Frank’ Holmes of Mullingar, County Westmeath. “Steve was my little brother, but like a lot of Irish families, we were twins with only a year between us. We shared a lot of the same likes. As teenagers it was specifically the music that our parents enjoyed in the 1950s.

“We used to go together to the Bobby Sox in Willesden on Fridays back in the 1970s watching bands like the Flying Saucers, Matchbox, DJ Fifties Flash and it’s where we met our tribe: a mix of all sorts of people young and old. The loos left a lot to be desired; the floor was sticky, but we loved it, and there’s a very large contingent of those people here tonight.”

She said the Missing People organisation “supported my mum Kay when Stephen didn’t come home after a night at the Bobby Sox” and a night filled with his favourite music “seemed like the right way to remember him”.

“Thank you to my girlfriends and to my family and my kids who encouraged and supported me to put on the event,” she said. Ms Leigh-Coggin then spun the first record that Stephen ever bought when he was 12 years old: Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets, which he bought from WHSmiths in Kilburn High Road. She met Stephen and Ms Morrissey at school when she was seven years old.

Ms Leigh-Coggin, who grew up in Priory Road, told the New Journal that the music was the “common bond” that united the group as a “family” when they were growing up.

She said: “Stephen was the studious one. We used to take the mickey out of him because he was like a mummy’s boy, but he was still rebellious in his own way. It was always Debbie and I that were a bit naughty for girls. We were told by our mums ‘no you can’t go out, it’s a school night’ but we’d sneak out anyway. Silly things like that. Whereas Stephen would be really good.

“He was very, very intelligent. He used to always get his homework done on time. He would never have just gone off without phoning his mum.”

She added: “He left early that night. I think it was just starting to snow. What we would learn later was he walked up to Cricklewood Broadway to wait for the bus. None of us found out [what happened] till 30-odd years later. Most people that knew him still can’t talk about it. It’s too painful.

“But the idea of tonight is we want to celebrate his life. I’m sure if he had lived to today he would have made a great success at whatever he was going to do. He was that kind of person.”

Ian Taylor, known as Strop

Debbie Morrissey talking about her brother

Another friend behind the decks for the evening was Kentish Town resident John Morris who recalled trying to style Stephen’s “unruly” hair. Mr Morris, who described himself as an “unemployed politician”, told the New Journal he became friends with Stephen at Hampstead School.

He said: “I was the year above him. I became a ­little Teddy Boy and he was attracted to that. There were no school uniforms so you could wear what you wanted. I wore a drape jacket. “My main recollection of Stephen was trying to teach him to do his first quiff because I used to do that. He had this incredible curly hair like his sister Debbie,” he said. “And it was uncontrollable. We tried everything. Different products, all the hairspray and grease and none of it worked because his hair had its own ideas and it just sprang back to life. “We’re here to celebrate his life. Short though it was, that’s all he had. We’re here to pay respect to that.”

Stephen’s best friend Paul Magee who was at the Bobby Sox with him the night he went missing said: “Stephen would have loved this.”

John Morris and Jesse Birdsall

And Mr Birdsall, an actor turned record dealer, known for his role as Marcus Tandy in BBC soap Eldorado, recalled his school days with Stephen.

Mr Birdsall said: “Stephen was charming. He was a really nice kid. He was a year below so he was in a slightly different posse if you like. We all used to go to rock ’n’ roll clubs together. There was a gang of 12 of us who used to go to rock ’n’ roll clubs all over the place. “I would have never thought then that we’d still be doing this now.

“There was a club in Wood Green. A place called Bumbles. We used to go to a lot in Hammersmith. We went to the Lyceum when we were 13 and paid about £1 to security guards at the back door to let us in. Then music scenes were very tribal. Now they’re not and everybody listens to a bit of everything. Then you’re either a soul boy or a smoothie. You’re either into rock ’n’ roll or you’re a punk rocker and they were very separate scenes.”

Lee Johnny and Natasha Leigh-Coggin

Mr Morrissey’s friend Gary Smith said: “It’s just nice to be able to remember him in this way. It would have been his 60th birthday. We’ve got one of the tightest community groups. We all keep each other strong. You’ll never get that anywhere else as long as I’ve been on the rocking scene.”

Ian Taylor – “DJ Strop”, who plays at Bop-A-Lena’s at the Electric Ballroom – said he spent six hours going through 4,000 records picking out what they all used to ­listen to as teenagers.

He added: “Everyone on the rock ’n’ roll scene kind of knows everyone. There’s people in here I might not have seen for 20 years when we used to go to the Bobby Sox, which was the biggest club in north London at the time.” Through £10 ticket sales on the door and an online fundraiser, the celebration raised around £3,500 for the Missing People charity.

“It’s amazing,” Ms Morrissey said. “The Irish Centre really helped to make the night. The venue itself is really nice. “I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was kind of exactly how I anticipated it to be. People were all really pleased to see each other after not seeing each ­other for like 40 years. “We wanted to be able to do something for years to commemorate Stephen.”

She added: “When you can’t have a funeral because you don’t have any evidence that somebody is dead, when someone is just missing and you don’t have a death certificate there isn’t much you can do. “I didn’t want to go to church. That wouldn’t have been fitting or right or satisfactory. It being Steve’s 60th, it just felt right to do it now. It felt like the best way to celebrate Stephen would be to play some records from the place we all used to hang out together and to just make it joyful.

“Funerals are sad and I didn’t want it to be like that. I wanted people to have a good time and to take away the horrible element that happened to him but just to do what we did the other night, it was a joyful and happy event remembering Stephen.”

You can donate to the fundraiser at www.go fundme.com/f/9pcmw5-stephen-holmes-60th-birthday-memorial-nights