The family of Bob Hallett, the Cockfosters publican killed by his barman, have spoken for the first time this week about the tragedy that changed their lives forever.

Stella Hallet and her son Joe Clarke said they would never get over the loss of a fun-loving husband and father who ran the Cock and Dragon until his death on June 11 last year. Described as a typical Aussie adventurer', Mr Hallett came to the UK when he was 21 and married his English wife 25 years ago. The couple settled down in Southgate and began running the Cock and Dragon pub and family-friendly Thai restaurant in Chalk Lane seven years ago.

He had known his killer, Eric Morin, for two-and-a-half years and the barman had even moved in to live above the bar. But then Morin, 36, a French Corsican and a former Legionnaire, turned as the two fell out about money.

"I did feel that something was coming, I didn't know what, but I felt a bit uneasy maybe that Eric was going to do something," said Mrs Hallett, 56, who worked all of her professional life with her husband. "He must have just had it in his mind that he was going to pay someone back that day."

The weekend before he killed Mr Hallett, Morin stole nearly £400 from the bar till and safe. When Mr Hallett confronted him, he became difficult and abusive, saying he felt money was owed him. He later admitted in court that no-one owed him any money he just got angry one lunchtime and threatened Mr Hallett with a large knife which he said he would fetch from his room. But suddenly, he grabbed a sharp knife off the bar used for slicing lemons, and went for his boss, stabbing him three times, once in the heart. Paramedics arrived at the scene but were unable to resuscitate Mr Hallett.

"Bob died the day after his birthday," said Mrs Hallett. "We were due to go out and celebrate that night because he had worked on his birthday. But of course we didn't know what was going to happen."

Mr Clarke, 38, from Croxley Green in Hertfordshire, who is Mrs Hallett's son by a previous relationship, said: "My parents felt sorry for him, because he was a hard worker. My mother used to send him Christmas cards and birthday cards. But there was obviously a wickedness in him."

Both mother and son welcomed the jury's unanimous verdict of murder at the Old Bailey last weekmay5, when Morin was sentenced to life imprisonment.

"But our lives are empty now," said Mr Clarke. "You see life very differently after something like this."