Moira Jones's mum speaks out over Sarah Everard killing

Bea Jones has written an open letter sharing her concerns at the media coverage of the protests held in the wake of Sarah's death.

She praised the "dignity" of memorials held in Glasgow at Queen's Park, where her daughter was brutally killed in May, 2008.

In a heartbreaking section of the letter, Bea details what Sarah's own mum must be thinking now. 

Bea has written: "We have been very distressed by what has happened to Sarah, similar in many respects to Moira's ordeal.

"I really could not face talking about this and thought that perhaps one open letter would suffice."

Her letter goes on to say: "First and last, my concern is for Sarah's loved ones. 

"They are totally devastated and bewildered and vulnerable. 

"They cannot fully take in what has happened and the permanence of what has occurred. 

"It may be that in those first days the family were comforted to think so many were grieving with them.

"But now it has all escalated into a media frenzy more representative of individual anger than of shared grief.

"I am very concerned that events have developed to such an extent that those who matter most, Sarah and her family, are being totally swamped and further traumatised by what is going on around them, adding trauma to trauma.

"How can they cope at all? There is only so much that a head can absorb and a heart can cope with and they have so much more to find out in the weeks and months ahead as dreadful details of Sarah's death are revealed to them.

"They need to be protected from the media, to feel they can step outside even for just a moment without fear of intrusion."

Sarah went missing while walking home from visiting a friend in Clapham, London, on March 3.

Her body was found a week later inside a builder's bag in woodland in Kent.  

Bea writes: "Her mum's head will be full of Sarah and there will be room for nothing but questions.

"Why Sarah? How could anyone want to hurt her when she would never have hurt a soul?

"Why was there no one there for her when she was always there for others?

"What was her state of mind? What did she have to go through?

"What did he do to her? How long? Oh God, what did she have to bear?

"Why didn't I know? Why didn't I feel her pain? Why was it Sarah, not me?

"Did she know how very much we loved her?

"There are no answers to these questions, there never will be, but she will keep on asking them, over and over, torturing herself.

"I ask them still - not so often but after 13 years I ask them still."

A 48-year-old man was arrested in connection with Sarah's death.

Wayne Couzens, of Deal, appeared at the Old Bailey this morning via a videolink from Belmarsh Prison.

The judge set a plea hearing date for July 9 and a provisional trial for October 25.

His barrister did not apply for bail.

In Bea's letter she adds: "Her family have lived with the joy of Sarah for 33 years and the loss of that joy will affect them for the rest of their lives.

"It will be a long time before they can even get past the trauma, to start processing the awfulness of it all and being able to grieve.

"There really are no words to describe that awfulness."

Bea goes on to praise the vigils held in Glasgow and says the messages of support for her family were also appreciated.

She said: "I can fully understand that women everywhere are saying enough is enough, and in most of the country that was made evident in a very dignified and respectful way.

"We have appreciated the many messages of support we have received, and the fact that our darling girl has been remembered by so many this week has been very moving for us.

"The media is now reporting only on the vigil that went wrong and on the demonstrations that followed, but I do know that at the gates of Queen's Park in Glasgow, folks kept their distance, formed an orderly queue as they waited to attach their ribbons and messages and this kind of respectful approach was evident throughout the city, throughout the country."

Bea ends her letter by sending love and strength to Sarah's family.

Bea added: "We frequently read and hear of murder cases in the news but it is rare indeed for us to read of the plight of those left behind, whose lives that are changed forever by the violent death of a loved one.

"Those who will also lose jobs, earings, friends, their health and more and be unable to function as they once did forevermore."

She, her husband Hu and son, Grant, set up The Moira Fund to support families who have lost a loved one to murder or manslaughter.

Each year, as part of its fundraising efforts, Moira's Run is held in Queen's Park to reclaim the greenspace for something positive, after Moira's murder.