A MOTHER of six from Falmouth currently serving life in prison for murder has told the Packet that she was wrongfully convicted and there is no evidence against her.

Michelle Casterton, 45, has said that there is no proof she was in the Camborne home of murder victim Terry Oldham, with co-defendants Aaron Mallen and Daniel John Quinn, when Mr Oldham was assaulted with a broom handle, sustaining injuries which later killed him.

In a phone call with the Packet from the prison where she is serving the first of her 22 year sentence, a tearful Casterton said she had spoken to her solicitors, who had told her the prosecution had to prove she either took part or encouraged the attack on 63-year-old Mr Oldham.

She said: “In the prosecution account there’s no evidence to support this... there’s no evidence I was there to take part. I was in another room or not even in the house.”

She added that another defendant had already confessed to assaulting Mr Oldham on his own. In a letter sent to the paper on a separate occasion she wrote: “I truthfully had no idea he was treating the man so badly if I did I would have said to the police.

“Being in prison is hard, but knowing you are in here for the worst crime imaginable and knowing that you didn’t do it and are innocent is unimaginable.”

Her father Barry and step-mother Wendy Casterton, told the Packet that their daughter's conviction has torn the family apart 

It has also taken a heavy toll on Barry and Wendy’s marriage, but they are sticking by her and believe she is innocent.

Barry said: “They had her down as living there, she wasn’t. Her main address was her home address in Grenville Road. She stayed that night [Mr Oldham died], she decided to stay at her boyfriend’s.”

Wendy added: “She went to sleep.. after taking her usual amount of sleeping tablets. The next thing she remembers is Aaron waking her up, saying someone had shouted that Terry was dead.”

She was accused of lying, but Wendy said: “In my mind that isn’t lying: if you go to sleep with somebody beside you and wake up with somebody beside you that’s what you’re going to say. You can’t say ‘he went downstairs.’”

Mr Oldham died of septicaemia from a punctured bowel which could have happened three to five days before the night in question, and Wendy said: “Michelle wasn’t living there,” and she and Barry both believe there is no evidence that she was involved in any of the other assaults carried out on the victim.

“She added: “I’m not going to say [the prosecution] made a scapegoat of her but in my heart of hearts the only thing I can think of that they have got on her is she fell in love with the wrong boy and happened to be staying there that night.”

Barry was acquainted with the victim as they had both played in a band together years ago, and said: “Terry never deserved to die the way he did.

“But that [according to Mallen] is the punishment for paedophiles.”

“The biggest mistake with him and Quinn: I said to them be careful what you say in the police car because it’s going to be recorded. They didn’t listen and that’s what the evidence is based on. They were two jack-the-lads, showing off in a way.”

Sitting in a room with one corner taken up by boxes of her step-daughter’s possessions, Wendy said: “Our lives are on edge. We’ve been given so many assurances of what’s going to happen that we don’t believe in anything.

“I’m 60 at Christmas and Barry’s 77 in October, and we’re looking at the fact that if she’s got to do 22 years, are either of us going to be alive when she comes out?

“It’s put a stress on the marriage.”

She added: “It’s destroyed us. It’s destroyed her relationship with five of her six kids, or definitely four. Her youngest is 15. It’s hard for her to accept that her mum is in there.”

Speaking to the Packet on the phone before talking to her parents, Casterton said: “I know a lot of people say they are innocent, they are this, that and the other. But I swear to God I am. I haven’t done this.”

An appeal by Casterton and Quinn, based on a confession by Mallen, was turned down by the Court of Appeal. Her case is now being examined by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.