The younger sister of murdered Karen Heywood has spoken of her family's "devastation" after her death, writes Paul Warner.

Speaking exclusively to the Oxford Mail, Sue Green, 34, said her family was finding it difficult to come to terms with what happened.

Mrs Green travelled from Cumbria to be with her parents Shirley, 58, and Arthur Crane, 64, who live in Banbury, after being told her 35-year-old sister had been strangled.

She said: "Everybody is absolutely devastated, including her two brothers.

"We just want whoever did this to be caught. You can't believe how terrible we feel at this time." Mrs Heywood and her two children moved to Southampton eight years ago when her husband got a new job there.

After getting divorced, she returned last year to work at Sainsbury's in Oxford Road, Banbury, before moving back to Southampton four months later to begin a new life.

On December 29, she moved to Bognor Regis. She was last seen in a pub there on New Year's Day.

Her body was discovered on the outskirts of Arundel, West Sussex, last week.

A formal identification was made last Tuesday. Mrs Green said: "The last time I saw her was in October when I came down during the half-term holidays. "She was her usual cheerful, bubbly self and we just went out and did what sisters usually do.

"We were just an ordinary, close-knit family who regularly keep in touch," she added.

Mrs Green said her sister moved to Bognor because she had taken her children there on holiday before.

"Words can't describe how I feel towards the person who did this," she said.

"I just hope that witnesses come forward so that this person is caught soon."

The last contact her parents had with Mrs Heywood was when they received a Christmas card.

Funeral arrangements have yet to be finalised because forensic tests are still being carried out.

Story date: Tuesday 01 February

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