Launceston man John Lilley was yesterday in shock after discovering that his mother in England had been brutally murdered, allegedly by two schoolgirls.
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Mr Lilley, who is in Queensland, only learned the terrible news when his son Andrew read about the case in The Examiner yesterday.
His mother, Lily, 71, was suffocated and dumped in a canal in a wheelie-bin last month, not far from the family home in Failsworth, Greater Manchester.
Two schoolgirls, aged 14 and 15, have been charged with the murder.
It is understood that Mrs Lilley's body was wheeled around in the wheelie-bin for some time before her killers decided what to do with it.
Greater Manchester Police had put out a call for help in locating Mr Lilley, who moved to Tasmania more than 20 years ago.
A distressed Mr Lilley said yesterday that he last talked to his mother on the phone five weeks ago.
"`I was absolutely shocked. I can't believe someone would do this to my poor old mum. She wouldn't hurt a fly,'' said Mr Lilley, 49, of Youngtown.
"I'm the only child, you see. It makes it really hard. I don't really quite know what these people have done.
"I've always thought it was bad enough to lose someone you love, but to have someone take their life away and leave their family with a horrible feeling of loss _ I can't even explain to you what I'm feeling.''
Mr Lilley migrated to Australia 27 years ago with his then wife and daughter Joanne.
He last saw his mother in the late 1970s when she visited Launceston after the death of her husband.
"My ambition in life was going to see my mum again,'' he said. "It was something I planned for, but of course it's easier said than done. I just feel bloody awful.''
Mr Lilley said his mother did not deserve to die so horribly. She had struggled all her life to make ends meet, working in a factory, assembling electrical components.
"She was from a hard-working background. She supported the house when my father was crippled with rheumatoid arthritis. She would get up at the crack of dawn to go to work.''
Mr Lilley had no idea why his mother would be singled out and killed.
"My mum lived a typical pensioner life, with not a lot of excitement. She worried about making sure the milkman was paid _ general things like that.''
Mr Lilley, a mechanic, clearly remembers his home town in England including the canal in which his mother's body was so cruelly dumped.
"You could leave your wallet on the front step in my day, and it just goes to show that today's society is a completely different world,'' he said.
"It's a warning to a lot of elderly people _ be on your guard and don't trust anyone you don't know.''
Mr Lilley yesterday contacted police in Failsworth.
He said he hoped to go to England as soon as possible.
