Parents praised as they bring man who killed daughter to justice
THE parents of a murdered woman who brought her killer to justice were praised by a judge yesterday for their “dogged” fight for the truth.
Robert Trigg found guilty of murder and manslaughter
Peter and Elizabeth Skelton saw chef Robert Trigg, 52, jailed for a minimum of 25 years for killing their daughter and a previous girlfriend.
Trigg suffocated 52-year-old Coutts Bank worker Susan Nicholson in 2011 but claimed he must have accidentally crushed her in his sleep.
The Skeltons refused to accept Trigg’s lies, but police did and treated him like a bereaved partner.
Eventually, the elderly couple’s campaign for justice forced detectives to reopen the case.
They remain angry at Sussex Police, revealing their years of struggle against officialdom had caused them “mental torture”.
“Our fight still goes on,” Mrs Skelton said.
Mr and Mrs Skelton have fought doggedly and continuously since their daughter’s death
“We want answers to unexplained questions and why it was the police weren’t able to bring it to court when we – Sue’s parents in our 80s – managed to.”
Police were also forced to re-examine the death of 35-year-old mother-of-four Caroline Devlin in 2006.
Her death was written off as “natural causes”, but an expert hired by the Skeltons found she was killed by a blow to the back of her head.
Both women died in the homes they shared with Trigg in Worthing, West Sussex. Trigg was found guilty of murdering mother-of-two Ms Nicholson and the manslaughter of Ms Devlin at Lewes Crown Court on Wednesday.
Mrs Justice Simler said: “Mr and Mrs Skelton have fought doggedly and continuously since their daughter’s death for the police to reinvestigate her death, classified as non-suspicious and accidental at the time.”