The mother of murdered soldier Lee Rigby has spoken of the devastating moment she knew her son had been killed, on the third anniversary of his death.

In an emotional interview, Lyn Rigby recalls the heartbreaking day the Middleton fusilier was brutally hacked to death in the street by Islamic extremists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale.

Lee, 25, was run down by a car outside his barracks in Woolwich in south east London, before being knifed.

Adebolajo and Adebowale - who are both serving life sentences - dragged his lifeless body into the middle of the road on May 22, 2013 as horrified passers-by watched on.

Mrs Rigby, who released an emotive autobiography earlier this month, spoke to Forces TV ahead of the third anniversary of her son’s death.

Watch: Family of Lee Rigby release new footage of the soldier

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Read more: 'I wanted to get into the grave to hold and cuddle my son'

She speaks of first hearing a soldier had been murdered, hoping Lee wasn’t returning her calls and texts because he was away training.

But her worst fears were realised when there was a knock on the door at 2am.

Holding back tears, mum-of-five Mrs Rigby, 49, said: “I received a phone call from my daughter saying there had been a murder in Woolwich - that a soldier had been murdered.

“I started panicking because Lee used to phone home if there was any tragedy.

“I saw them showing Lee’s horrific murder on the TV, them pulling him out into the road by his leg.

“I broke down. People’s names were going around social media. We were hearing stories that it was somebody else.

“By 2am, I thought ‘no, it’s not Lee, he’s away’. I was still having this horrible sick feeling it was Lee.

“Later, I went upstairs into the bedroom, then there was a knock at the door and at that point I just fell onto the bed.”

Mrs Rigby also spoke about Lee’s childhood as a ‘cheeky, fun-loving’ boy who wanted to be a soldier since the age of four.

She added: “He was quite troublesome sometimes, he was very cheeky.

“He was fun-loving little boy. He was a handful when he was a teenager. He used to run rings around us then.

“It was either Lee’s way or no way. But he had a heart of gold. He about four or five when he mentioned he wanted to be a soldier - that he wanted to go into the army.

“He was into his toy soldiers and his little green tanks.”

Mrs Rigby’s book, Lee Rigby: A Mother’s Story, charts how she struggled to cope in the aftermath of the killing, but also tells of his life as a soldier, son and father.