THE mother of tragic Sergio Marquez wears her son’s dreadlock in her hair in constant tribute to him.

Maria Carmen Marquez Torres, who lives in Coin, near Malaga, visited Bournemouth to hear her son’s killer plead guilty to his manslaughter.

After Sergio’s death, she decided to wear his distinctive single dreadlock in her own hair so part of him will always be with her.

The 43-year-old also wears some of his ashes in a pouch around her neck, and has spent some of her time in Bournemouth visiting the places seen in the photographs Sergio showed her.

Maria, who was just 19 when she had her son, said: “He was a gift from heaven.

“It just doesn’t feel real. I still get surprised when I remember he isn’t here anymore.”

Sergio came to Bournemouth in March 2011, and loved his time living in the town.

He studied at the United World School of English before being forced to return to Spain after breaking his collarbone in a biking accident.

He made his way back to Bournemouth just weeks before his death.

Maria said: “He was very happy here.

“He had many friends, he loved to work and he loved to learn. He liked Bournemouth and was doing well here.”

Before moving to England, Sergio had written a list of goals he hoped to achieve.

“There were three things on the list, and the last one, which he had underlined, said, ‘Have fun – never cross this one out’,” said Maria.

The young mother, who was divorced at just 21, raised her son with the help of his maternal grandparents and his uncle Miguel.

She said she and Sergio, who started working as an electrician at the age of just 16, were more like best friends then mother and son.

“It was always Sergio and Maria together,” she said.

“Sergio had everything, he was handsome, happy, kind, healthy, responsible, fun, and polite. He is a person that is impossible to replace.”

Sergio’s killer, Karl Addo, today admitted to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility at Bournemouth Crown Court.

Maria added: “I would like to thank the people of Bournemouth, and those who have shown their affection with floral tributes and writings.”

30-year-old Addo is due to be sentenced on Wednesday 4 December.