Young mum-of-one Ellia Arathoon was brutally murdered in October last year, her little boy Reece whom she 'worshipped and adored' was left without a mother.

'Vile' Craig Procter viciously attacked her with a glass, then put her body in a suitcase and set fire to it in secluded woodland near to his home in Ellesmere Port.

The 40-year-old, of Shephard Close, has been handed a life sentence after dramatically pleading guilty just hours before he was due to stand trial for Ellia's murder.

Judge Goldstone warned 'highly dangerous and manipulative' Procter that he may never be released.

Ellia's devastated parents Elaina Hampson and Lee Edwards have released a heartbreaking statement in which they reveal the impact losing their daughter in such horrific circumstances has had on their family.

Pictured is Ellia Arathoon, 29
Ellia Arathoon

Ellia's family's statement in full

Ellia was a beautiful, vivacious, strong willed, friendly, funny and loving person. She would light up the room with her smile, which made her so popular with everyone that knew her. The precious time she spent with her son demonstrated how loving and caring she was. She worshipped and adored Reece, nothing was too much trouble and she would spoil him rotten and she really was an amazing mother. She loved to spend her time with him and was so creative in the things they did together.

We have no idea who the defendant is. The only way we know him is that he murdered our daughter. He has changed so many lives in so many ways, that I doubt he could ever possibly understand. He has taken a mother away from a nine-year-old child who will never see her again. Her son will always wonder why and how. He wants to come to court so he can throw tomatoes at the person responsible. He wants to know what the defendant looks like. He wants to see him. He's also asked if we can take him to the house where his mummy died. No child should have to ask those questions. The defendant has scarred that child in a way he could never ever understand. I only hope that he doesn't grow up as angry as what happened to his mum.

Funeral of Ellia Arathoon at Our Ladys Star of the Sea church in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.

The defendant has taken our daughter away from us, we will never see her again. He has taken a sister away; a niece, an auntie; a granddaughter and he also taken someone away from so many friends. So many people's lives have changed in a horrific way. I don't know how I or we, start to live with this.

I always wanted to know from the very first day that we found out that she'd gone, how did it happen? Was she in pain? Did she suffer? Why? But then I thought, the defendant wasn’t decent enough to come to court on the few occasions he should have, so why on earth did I possibly think he would ever give us the answers. If I carried on wanting these questions, wanting the reasons, I think it would probably eventually destroy me and I can't allow him to destroy anyone else's life. So I have to give up on that. It might not be today and it might not be tomorrow, but eventually I have to stop before I am destroyed.

I don't believe the sentence he will get will ever help us, because he is still here and she is not. He will have his life still and she doesn't. His family will still probably come and see him and one day he will probably be released to carry on with his life. His family will eventually see him out but we will never ever see our daughter again.

'He has ruined our family'

My other daughter will not see her sister again. She has no good memories anymore of her and her sister, because when she thinks of her all she thinks of is what he did and the horrific circumstances and the fact he took away the chance to say goodbye to her. He took that away from her, something so special and all she has left now is that nightmare. He will carry on with his life and we will carry on with ours as best as we possibly can but it will never ever be the same. We have changed; he has ruined our family. He has caused us pain and heartache and I hope one day he has some sort of remorse.

As a family we want to thank all agencies involved for their assistance in bringing this case to a speedy conclusion. We would like to thank Cheshire police investigation team as a whole for all their hard work behind the scenes to bring about today’s result. In particular we wish to thank Cheshire Constabulary's FLOs for the way they kept us informed throughout the investigation and the professionalism they showed under very difficult circumstances.