Distraught Liz Longhurst fought back tears as she read out a heart-breaking statement from her daughter's boyfriend to the nation's media today.

Malcolm Sentance, 34, is staying with friends outside Sussex, too shattered by Jane's death to face the Press personally.

But in a touching statement, read out in a faltering voice by Mrs Longhurst to the assembled ranks of journalists, he said: "It is very difficult to fully explain how I feel at this time but I shall try.

"I am missing Jane every hour of every day and night that passes. It is heartbreaking when your life turns a corner and new experiences occur and the one person you want to share them with is not there.

"Jane will always be a very special friend to me. She was loving, warm, beautiful, a fantastic musician and teacher, a great laugh, my best mate and I would have happily spent the rest of my life with her.

"She would always say 'Malc, do you want to get married at some point?' and I'd reply 'yeah, maybe, whenever'. She was always open about her feelings.

"She enjoyed the challenge of teaching children and would have loved to have had some of her own. We were going to buy a house, travel, we had so many plans for the future.

"For five weeks I was praying she would be found alive and we could meet again.

"The day she went missing was like any other, I would not have done anything different, we were getting on great.

"I'm really going to miss the great conversations and nights at the pub with friends.

"I'll miss walking, driving about, the pillow fights and swimming in the sea.

"I'll miss Jane and I being us, laughing when you're not supposed to, during music concerts.

"When I visited Uplands School a child came up to me and said 'You know, Miss Longhurst was the only teacher I could get on with'. We all miss her in our different ways.

"I would like to say that I feel that during the time Jane was missing everyone involved has moved heaven and earth to try and find her alive.

"I feel that nothing else could have been done and that this whole thing is out of all our hands.

"I am very relieved her body has been found and is now being looked after and feel safe in the knowledge we can all celebrate her life and have a funeral in the near future.

"Obviously, I hope the killer is found soon for the sake of any potential future victims. At this point I do not feel any malice towards the killer.

"My thoughts are with Jane and her family, we are all trying to stay positive.

"I am heartbroken at the tragic loss of a brilliant friend.

"I apologise for not being here today but I hope you understand how difficult this is. At the moment I am trying to come to terms with the loss of someone who I loved very much."

Mrs Longhurst, 71 and a widow, then spoke about her own feelings for the first since since her daughter's body was found.

She said: "For five weeks we held on to the hope that Jane may be alive somewhere but last Saturday we received the terrible news that her body had been found.

"No one can prepare you for something so terrible.

"As Jane's family, we are now living this nightmare. We have lost someone who was so special and who brought so much pleasure to the people who knew her.

"There were many times in the weeks Jane was missing when we believed the worst but there was always a shred of hope that she would return home safe and well.

"That hope has now been taken away from us and we know we will never see Jane again.

"The only thing we can ask for now is for Jane's killer to be found."

Mrs Longhurst, from Reading, pleaded with anyone with information or who may be shielding the killer to speak to police.

Her other daughter Sue Barnett, 39 and also from Reading, said: "We are slowly coming to terms with what has happened to Jane and pulling together as a family to support each other during such a difficult time.

"Jane was close to all her family. Whilst we didn't always see a lot of each other there was always regular contact and we got together when we could. We heard about each other's lives and took an interest in all that we did.

"That has now been taken away from us. Never again will I see my sister, my mum see her daughter or Malcolm his partner."