Grief: Amélie's parents outside the Old Bailey

The grief-stricken mum of Amélie Delagrange wept as Levi Bellfield was found guilty of her daughter's murder yesterday.

Dominique Delagrange said she had known for months the 39-year-old former bouncer was guilty of battering Amélie to death on Twickenham Green in 2004.

She also says her own health problems had become worse before and during the Old Bailey trial and had suffered from depression.

But she explained she felt she had to attend court.

"It would be inconceivable that we would not be present to turn the final page in our daughter's short existence.

"Having always been there since her birth, today we have arrived at the last chapter of a long tragedy."

She also explained husband Jean-François, suffered a heart attack six months after Amélie's death.

Recently he was forced to give up his career as an architect because he found it too difficult to concentrate on his work.

Murdered: Amelie Delagrange

She also revealed her own mum - Amélie's gran - died in France during the trial, which she blamed on the sadness and stress suffered by the entire family.

The couple, who attended nearly every day of the four-and-a-half month trial, said they followed every update in the investigation over the past four years.

Amélie's parents called the Met detectives who cracked their daughter's murder "guardian angels" and said her family would try to return to a normal life in France now that their daughter's killer has been sentenced.

1:34pm Tuesday 26th February 2008

Print

Email this