The mother of the woman held over the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman said yesterday that she was "no killer" and urged her to tell the police everything she knew.
Mrs Shirley Capp (56) told a British newspaper that nothing would break the bind between her daughter Maxine Carr and fellow suspect, boyfriend Ian Huntley.
She said: "Maxine is in love with the man. Nothing will break them. She adores the ground Ian walks on, and she is no killer.
"Maxine is standing by Ian. She is standing by him for reasons even I do not know. But it is now up to her to tell the police everything she knows.
"I cannot vouch for him. I don't think anyone can. But I can vouch for my daughter and I believe she is innocent." Mrs Capp, from Grimsby, North Lincolnshire, said her 25-year-old daughter had changed her name because she hated her father Alfred Capp, an agricultural labourer who left when she was two.
Ms Carr, who has an older sister, Hayley, had been raised in Keelby, near Grimsby, and attended Keelby Primary and Healing Comprehensive, before moving to another school in nearby Caistor.
She had lived in a council house where Mrs Capp had "barely two pennies to rub together".
Mrs Capp also told how her daughter suffered from anorexia during her teenage years.
She said she fell in love with Mr Huntley (28) three years ago, but they recently broke up for a while.
"She was heartbroken," she said. "Then they seemed happy again."
She said Mr Huntley would often drive Ms Carr up from Cambridgeshire to visit her.- (PA)