March 21, 2001 9:58: A Potters Bar mother has written a book on meeting the man who fatally stabbed her daughter more than 100 times.

An Ordinary Murder tells of how Lesley Moreland, 60, of Laurel Avenue, visited Andrew Steel (not his real name) in a prison in Leicester on December 11 1995 five years after he murdered her daughter Ruth.

The 24-year-old was found in the bedroom of her rented house in Enfield with more than 100 stab wounds to her body including the fatal one to her neck.

Mrs Moreland struggled to come to terms with such a tragic loss.

She recalls: "I had recurring nightmares and spent the days obsessively thinking that perhaps if somebody had found her in time her life may have been saved.

"I didn't know how long it was from the attack to when she died.

"How long was she on her own and suffering with no hope of help coming?"

Andrew Steel was jailed for life with the recommendation that he serve a minimum of 13 years a term that is almost over.

With a history of violence towards women he spent a day drinking and taking LSD before stabbing Ruth to death.

Mrs Moreland tried for four years to meet her daughter's killer finally and eventually succeeded in 1995.

"I wanted to understand what kind of person he was, what had led him to attack Ruth and how it affected him," Mrs Moreland said of her fateful meeting.

"I wanted him to know what had happened on our side so he would understand the distress and ongoing suffering he had caused and have something to work on in prison which might help him to lead a non-violent and useful life in the future."

An Ordinary Murder by Lesley Moreland is published by Aurum Press at £14.99