Missing murder suspect Garry Malone currently living in Spain's Costa del Sol after fleeing Potters Bar has vowed never to return to England.
Speaking on the second anniversary of his step-mother Sharon Malone's disappearance yesterday, Garry's 20-year-old son Gareth Malone said his father would remain in exile.
"I don't think he will be coming back," he said yesterday. "The police have not been helpful to him, if they had I'm sure he would've returned. The day he left I told him if he left he was going to look guilty we all said don't go'."
Garry Malone, 45, left the couple's Cranborne Crescent home with their two young children on January 21 last year just weeks before the discovery of his wife's battered body. The sporty 28-year-old had been beaten about the head with a blunt object.
Gareth staunchly defends his father's innocence and spoke to him just a few days ago. He says he fled under the pressure of the police inquiry into his wife's disappearance but would be stupid to return now.
Detectives want to interview Mr Malone in connection with the murder of the trainee teacher. But Mr Malone, a former karate teacher, fears he would be arrested and his two children, Adam, six, and Robert, four, taken into care should he return.
Sharon's father Harry Clinch, 62, of Old Fold View, Barnet, said he remained in limbo since his daughter's murder, and did not know what to tell his grandchildren.
He said: "Robert is still young but he has asked why he hasn't got a mummy. I get off the phone sometimes and I sit down and have a cry because what can I tell him?
"I'm not a social worker or a child psychologist. What does a grandfather say to his grandchildren when they ask why they haven't got a mummy?"
Detective Chief Inspector Martin Lee, leading the murder hunt, said: "We're still actively investigating lines of inquiry. I'm very hopeful that we will get to the point where we know what happened to Sharon and can put the matter before the courts."
He appealed for Mr Malone to return to help clear things up.
November 28, 2001 19:34
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