Victim's family pay tribute to her after gardener sentenced for murder

The family of murdered Linda Casey's family have paid tribute to her after Peter Ling was jailed for 18 years for her murder.

Mrs Casey, who has three daughters by her first marriage, was reported missing by family members after her violent death.

After Ling's sentencing (today) the family released a statement:

They said: "Mum is dearly missed by her family and everyone who knew her. She was a loving, cheerful and kind person who helped others wherever and however she could. She loved seeing others achieve their goals.

"She was always there for us day or night and was an intricate part of our lives, from picking up our children, to being there at the birth of all her grandchildren whom she adored. Every year we would all go on holiday together and spend Christmas together and these were her favourite times of year.

"She was a passionate gardener and had opened up her own garden to raise money for charity. She held down three jobs and had two allotments where we could all spend time together as a family.

"Mum was extremely well educated and accomplished a degree in teaching in her spare time as well as working and being a great mum and nan. She was a romantic and loved all the classic novels, poetry and music. She would always be laughing and happy and was a flower child at heart. Her motto was live and let live.

"The void her untimely and tragic death leaves behind is immense, too deep and painful to put into words, not only for us, her daughters, but for her seven grandchildren who miss her terribly.

"Mum was really excited and looking forward to the birth of her new grandchild but was denied the chance to ever meet her. The baby will never have the chance to know mum and experience her love and warmth and our sister had a new baby without mum there to share her joy and give her advice.

"The suddenness and unfair circumstances in which mum died only compounds our grief as she was young and had so much to live for. We had so many plans together and being denied the chance to say goodbye is hard to bear.

"Mum was our mentor. Her enthusiasm, her innocent down-to-earth view on life, and her encouragement in all we embarked on has been taken from us - our lives will never be the same. "There isn't a day, hour or minute we don't all think of her."

Surrey Police investigated the crime.

Detective Chief Inspector Chris Raymer, of Surrey Police's Major Crime Investigation Team, said: "Linda Casey was a mother and grandmother and was much loved by her family and friends. She no longer wanted any kind of relationship with Peter Ling and, knowing this, he lured her to a secluded location and murdered her using brute force. There can be no justification for the savagery of the attack she suffered.

"He then went to great lengths to try and cover up his crime - hiding her body and dumping her car in nearby woods. It was days before Linda's family would discover what had happened to her.

"By pleading not guilty to her murder he has put her family through the additional ordeal of a trial. Our thoughts are with them and all of those whose lives have been affected by Linda's death.