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 have returned. The day he left I told him if he left he was going to look guilty."

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.

Detectives want to interview Mr Malone in connection with the murder of the trainee teacher. But Mr Malone 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 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."

Detective Chief Inspector Martin Lee, leading the murder hunt, said: "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 18:01

MATTHEW NIXSON