FOR teenager Gary Odlum life could not have been better.

He was out celebrating his nineteenth birthday with close friends, had a job he loved, was about to buy a car and had finally plucked up the courage to ask out the girl of his dreams.

But his life came to a savage and abrupt end with one brutal punch.

The birthday celebrations which turned so tragically sour were the culmination of a year in which Gary felt he had seen his life finally come together.

And his happiness was best captured in the moments before leaving the Stoneclough home he shared with his mother, Diane, for the last time.

He hugged her and said "I love you mum". . . and then he was gone.

She, and Gary's father, Peter, never saw their son conscious again.

The single fatal blow which killed him happened at the end of the night out in Bolton town centre.

His father, Peter, who works for British Telecom, said: "Gary had only just mentioned to his mum how he thought his life was just starting to come together.

"He was doing well at Edbros Engineering where he was an apprentice engineer. He was turning 19, was due to get a car, and just starting to go out with a girl.

"He had just asked her out that Friday. He had known Alison for a while and was going to tell her how he felt on the Saturday . . . but he never got the chance.

"Before he went out on that Friday night he was excited and very happy. In fact he seemed more loving. He hugged his mother and said 'I love you mum'.

"It was all just such a sudden shock."

Gary was a former pupil at Harper Green School. His younger sister, Steph, was preparing for her GCSEs when tragedy struck. He also leaves a brother Joe, eight, and sister, Victoria, three.

Mr Odlum added: "Joe worshipped Gary. Victoria doesn't really understand. We have told her that he is up in the sky with the stars."

Gary enjoyed going out, playing football, and enjoyed listening to music.

After his death, his best friend, Michael Chadwick, a DJ, put together a CD of Gary's favourite music. The compilation of dance music was an instant sell-out.

Mr Odlum added: "It is only just sinking in now months later, that we will never see Gary again.

"I have had time off work with depression, not being able to cope with what has happened.

"Time has done nothing to heal our grief. "As time passes it just sinks in more and more that Gary will not walk back into the room again.

"I have terrible trouble sleeping. I keep dreaming about him, but then I wake up and have to face the realisation that he is gone.

"It is one of those things we as a family will never get over. We will have to go through life coping with it. Nothing seems important any more.

"Gary was the sort of son to be proud of. I never had to discipline him -- he had really done me proud. As well as being my son, he was my best friend."