‘The grief is like an earthquake’: Anguish of mother of murdered Sussex woman

The mother of a young Sussex woman who was murdered by her husband has spoken of the anguish faced by her family.
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Daniel Appleton, 38, has been jailed for life for killing his wife Amy, and passerby Sandra Seagrave, outside their home in Crawley Down just before Christmas in 2019.

Amy’s mother read an impact statement from the witness box at Lewes Crown Court.

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Linda Remon told the court the whole family experienced an emotional earthquake when they found out Amy had been murdered by her husband.

Amy Appleton SUS-191230-142316001Amy Appleton SUS-191230-142316001
Amy Appleton SUS-191230-142316001

She said their lives changed forever at around 5pm on Sunday, December 22, 2019.

The family reacted with total disbelief and despair at the heartbreaking news, she said.

“You can never imagine in your whole life the change in a matter of seconds.

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“We were looking forward to Christmas and New Year, then our world came crashing down around us,” she said.

Daniel AppletonDaniel Appleton
Daniel Appleton

The truth about how Amy died and who killed her was catastrophic and worse was to come when the family went to the mortuary to identify her body.

Amy’s killer, husband Daniel, wept in the dock as her mother described how they were given the grim facts about the investigation into her death.

“Her brain had been removed for forensic purposes,” she said. “We felt sick to the bottom of our stomachs for what they had to do to our darling girl,” Linda said.

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She described what followed as an outpouring of unmeasurable grief. Mrs Remon said she kissed her daughter’s beautiful face and hoped for justice.

The family lost a loving daughter and sister. “She loved everyone and everyone loved her,” mum Linda said.

Her sudden, untimely death robbed her of a fulfilling future. She always wanted to be a mum and raise a family, her mum said.

The tragedy has left them with only one question, she said. “There is always one word in hour minds - why?”

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The family are trying to rebuild their lives without their beautiful girl, Mrs Remon said.

“You never envisage for a moment your family, quiet and ordinary, would be part of such an atrocity.

“We are broken and feel we have lost half our family because it is not just Amy who has gone from our lives.

“We will never have our family back as it was.

“The grief is like an earthquake.”

The family had to endure the dreadful memories every day for the rest of our lives, she said.

“We are the ones serving the life sentence,”

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The Honourable Mr Justice Hilliard told Mrs Remon: “Your daughter was a credit to you and reading that in the way you have done, you are a credit to her.”