THE FAMILY of Stephanie Bellinger and her baby daughter Lili have spoken out following Anthony Marsh being found guilty.

In their statement, they said: "We are happy with today's verdict. The severe trauma suffered by all the family over the killings of Stephanie Bellinger and her daughter Lili Beau have been relived by the whole family during the trial.

"The evidence has been graphic and harrowing, but we all felt compelled to attend, to hear at first hand the same information as the jury.

"We believe that Anthony Marsh is a dangerous and violent person, particularly toward women and female children, and he should be kept in a secure environment for the rest of his life.

"The impact on Stephanie's family and friends is huge. Like a huge boulder crashing into a pond, those closest feel the biggest impact of this awful incident, but the ripples spread outward to affect all, even those only remotely connected to Stephanie.

"In particular for Charlie, the sole survivor of this dreadful event.

"Charlie is a very special little boy with a wonderful sense of humour and an exceptional memory. It is clear to us that he does have a degree of recognition of what happened, but is not yet able to verbalise this or ask us meaningful questions to satisfy his curiosity. However, it will not be too long before he does and at that point, Charlie's life sentence, bestowed by his father, will commence.

"These killings carried out by his father and the impact on Charlie is lifelong and incalculable.

"As for the family, we are in full agreement to nurture and love this little boy; to raise, protect and support him without condition. However this impacts on us is also for the rest of our lives.

"The finding of Stephanie and Lili Beau by Elizabeth and Ruth and neighbours have left them with images they will carry forever.

"The impact of the dreadful loss of Stephanie and Lili Beau is a life sentence for us all.

"We would like to thank the police for their tireless work to bring the perpetrator to justice, the media for their co-operation with the police in assisting to secure the quick arrest of the perpetrator, their subsequent sensitive reporting of the events and the trial, to the members of the jury whose lives very suddenly and unexpectedly became engulfed by these horrific killings when they were sworn in on November 16.

"To Victim Support who have indeed supported the family, particularly during the trial period, and also to Cruse the bereavement counselling service, to other family and friends and to the local community who have given their time and energy to help us and give so generously to Charlie's Trust Fund (C P Marsh c/o Nationwide 0302/140 872 881) "Too many to name all, but thank you so much for your love and support in helping us to survive this nightmare."