Ipswich murder victim Karen Hales remembered by best friend

For this, the 30th anniversary of Karen's death, her closest friend Chitra Watson has shared her memories of the woman she called her soulmate, and the day that her young life was cut short.

Chitra said: "We were 21 when Karen was taken from us. 

"She had the rest of her life ahead of her, hundreds of memories she should have been making with her daughter. Decades of sharing those memories with her family. Years of our friendship ahead of us.  

"That day, when her mum told me that Karen had been murdered, will be etched in my mind forever.  I can remember putting the phone down, turning to my mum, telling her it must be a mistake and carrying on getting ready for work. 

"I went into the office, and everyone was talking about the news; the horrific murder of a 21-year-old woman in her own home, in front of her baby daughter.  It was like I could hear their voices around me, but it was also like I wasn’t really there.  I can remember someone asking me if I was okay; I told them I needed to go home, and it was from that moment when realisation started to dawn, and over the following days and weeks, amongst the media frenzy and police investigations, that my world came crashing down around me.   

Karen's best friend, Chitra, said that the pair had been inseparable since they were just five years old. Image: Suffolk Police (Image: Suffolk Police)

"My best friend, my soulmate, a friend who had always been there for me in times of need and who had leaned on me, had not only died, but died in the most horrific way, at the hands of another human being.  

"My pain when it comes to thinking about Karen pales into insignificance when compared to what all of her family have gone through, there is no comparison.  But my pain remains with me. Of course, it surfaces when poignant events happen; when I got married, when I became a mum, when my dad died - because she would have been there with me through all of those events - but it’s when I smell a perfume, hear a song, smell the drink she used to like or when I need to hear her laugh if I’m having a tough day, that’s when it really hurts, even now.  I’m fortunate enough to be surrounded by many special friends, some of whom also knew Karen well, but the gap she left behind is vast. 

"We were inseparable from the age of five, always round each other’s houses at every opportunity as children and getting under the feet of our parents; trying to co-ordinate our tea breaks and lunches during our Saturday jobs and making time for each other as and when we could as we grew into adulthood and Karen became a mother.  We shared so many happy and funny times together growing up and they are memories I will always cherish.

Karen Hales holding her baby daughter, Emily. Image: Suffolk Police (Image: Suffolk Police)Chitra said that Karen would be proud of the woman that her daughter Emily has become. Emily was just 18 months old when her mother died. Image: Suffolk Police (Image: Suffolk Police)

"It's 30 years on, and we still don’t have any answers.  I visited Karen’s mum and dad recently and I could still see the pain in their eyes.  No parent should outlive their child under any circumstances, but to lose a child in the way they lost Karen is something that just can’t be possible to come to terms with.  My heart will always break for them.   And then there’s Karen’s daughter; no child should ever have to learn that their mother was murdered, to grow up hearing everyone talking about her, seeing her photos in the paper, or on the TV, yet never having known her.  

"One thing I do know for sure, is that Karen would be so incredibly proud of the woman her daughter has become.

"None of this is the natural order of things.  None of it made sense then, and none of it makes sense three decades later.  If anything, the longer it goes on unresolved, the more questions and more frustrations it creates.

"Whoever did this, destroyed a part of each of us forever.  Whoever did this, ended one of the most beautiful lives, a life that should still be here now. Does time ever truly heal in situations like this?  No, I don’t think it does."