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'I feel guilty my ex killed his stepdaughter'

Last month an inquest heard how evil trucker Darren Walker molested and strangled his nine-year-old stepdaughter Stacey Lawrence before hanging himself.

The schoolgirl’s partially clothed body was found in 40-year-old Walker’s lorry, after she had been on a delivery with him in August 2009 as a treat before she was due to return to school a few days later.

Walker, who was engaged to Stacey’s mum Roxanne Lawrence, 38, had throttled the schoolgirl who called him “dad” with a length of black fabric and then hanged himself from a tree near where his cab was parked in a lay-by in Warmington, Northamptonshire.

Mum-of-three Roxanne said at the time: “Stacey was a really happy little girl and was very popular with lots of friends. I just can’t believe she’s gone.”

Now speaking for the first time, Walker’s ex-wife Amy Walker, 27, reveals how the trucker, who called himself “King Of The Road,” had a violent temper and once tried to strangle her during their stormy two-year marriage.

“Deep down I’d always known he was capable of killing someone but I never thought he could murder an innocent child,” says Amy from Walsall.

“Finding out I’d been married to a paedophile and child killer is sickening. I feel so guilty for ever loving him and wish I’d pressed charges against him when he almost killed me. Maybe if I had Stacey would still be here now.”

Amy was a trainee chef when she met Walker at a friend’s house in November 2005.

Amy, who’d only had one previous boyfriend, says: “Darren had lovely blue eyes and was attentive and funny. Everyone who knew him liked him. When he proposed on my 24th birthday two months later I said yes. It was a whirlwind romance but I thought I’d met my ideal man.”

The couple married in June 2006 surrounded by friends and family, but Amy says Walker’s personality changed overnight.

“He began criticising me constantly – the way I washed up, cooked dinner, and he said I was too slim,” she says.

“He’d come home from the pub in the early hours and wake me up and demand I make him bowls of Smash or porridge. And he’d often demand sex.”

If Amy didn’t fulfill Walker’s demands, he turned violent.

“He’d become aggressive and push and shove me around. He moaned if I ever went out and didn’t like me speaking to people. I became isolated from my friends and family and never told anyone about his behaviour because I was so scared he’d find out and punish me,” she recalls.

During a heated row at home in June 2007, Walker tried to strangle Amy, breaking blood vessels in her neck and tearing a ligament.

“I can’t remember what the row was about but I was terrified,” says Amy. “His face was contorted with anger and
I thought he was going to kill me. Somehow I got away from him and ran to my neighbours to dial 999.

“Police took him in for questioning but I decided not to press charges because I didn’t think I had the strength to cope with a court case.

“When he came home later that day he said he was sorry. It’s hard to explain why I forgave him but I felt trapped and prayed things would get better. And there were times when he was very romantic and we’d walk the dog together and go to our favourite pubs.”

But Walker continued to lash out at Amy and the relationship eventually ended in February 2008 when he left.

“I wanted children and he didn’t so he left,” she explains.

“Despite everything I was devastated. He’d made me feel I couldn’t live without him. I had no self-esteem left at all.”
A few months later Amy discovered Walker was seeing Roxanne Lawrence.

Amy says: “I didn’t know much about their relationship but the last time I saw Darren was in October 2008 when he turned up out of the blue saying he’d left Roxanne and wanted us to get back together. I believed he’d changed and we spent the night together. He was like the old Darren I’d fallen in love with and the next day he said he was going back to collect his things.”

But Walker didn’t return and a few days later Roxanne got hold of Amy’s number and called her to say they were still together.

“I was angry and warned her about Darren’s violence as I knew she had kids,” Amy says. “I just wish I’d tried harder to convince her I was telling the truth.”

Amy had filed for divorce and was getting her life back on track when police knocked on her door on 20 August 2009 to say Walker’s body had been found.

She says: “I started shaking uncontrollably and screaming. I was sure they were mistaken and begged them to take me to his body so I could prove it wasn’t him. He was still my husband – I didn’t want him dead.”

Worse still, Amy was told nine-year-old Stacey Lawrence’s body had been discovered in his lorry and that she’d been molested by the trucker.

“I was disgusted he could do that,” Amy says. “I drove myself crazy trying to remember anything that might have been a sign he was a paedophile but I couldn’t think of anything. He’d never come across as a pervert.”

Incredibly, Amy arranged Walker’s funeral. Despite what he’d done it was attended by 25 close friends and family.

“Because we were still married it was my responsibility, but I also did it for closure,” she says. “I chose Songbird by Fleetwood Mac to be played during the service but I couldn’t bring myself to do a reading. I had no idea what to say.”

Amy has been desperate to speak to Roxanne and express her condolences but only found the courage to contact her two weeks ago after Stacey’s inquest.

“I just wanted her to know how sorry I am,” she says. “Roxanne was understanding but sounded so heartbroken.”

Now, Amy’s struggling to move on with her life. She’s still single, living on her own and is unable to work due to depression.

She says: “For the rest of my life I have to live with the fact that if I’d pressed charges or made Roxanne believe me when I said he was violent, all this might never have happened.

“Stacey was a beautiful little girl with her whole life in front of her. Darren has left so many lives devastated.”

By Shannon Kyle