‘I think about Alice all the day, all the time’
ONE YEAR ON, ALICE’S FAMILY TELL OF LIFE WITHOUT HER
TWELVE months on the pain is still raw, but the mum of murdered Alice Ruggles has spoken of the gap the bubbly 24-year-old has left in her family’s life.
On October 12, 2016, Alice was murdered in her Gateshead home by her ex-boyfriend.
Lance Corporal Trimaan “Harry” Dhillon subjected his ex-girlfriend to campaign of stalking and harassment before he broke into her house and killed her.
One year on her mum, Sue Hills, 56, said she still finds it hard to believe her beloved daughter is gone.
“It doesn’t get any easier to accept, it’s just so hard to believe it happened,” she said.
“I think about Alice every day, all the time. The only time I don’t think about Alice is when I am working and I have to concentrate, otherwise I am always thinking about her.
“I don’t know if I ever will not always be thinking about Alice, I don’t ever want to stop thinking about her.
“We are thinking about Alice and thinking about how lovely she was and what a mark she made on the world in her short life.”
Outgoing and funny, Alice worked at Sky in Newcastle and built close friendships with colleagues. She had moved to the North East from Leicestershire to study at Northumbria University. She stayed on after graduating, making the region her home.
Sue and husband Clive, 65, would often visit Newcastle and say they have happy and positive memories of the North East.
Alice’s brothers Nick, 28, Patrick, 21, and sister Emma, 29, are all still struggling to come to terms with life without Alice.
Sue said: “There’s a massive gap in our family. Alice was one of the middle children and she was so funny, she brought us all together, it’s hard for us to relate to one another now without her. It’s the little things, we used to have a family Whatsapp group and Alice would always post jokes and things to make us smile, but that’s not there any more.”
On the anniversary of Alice’s death yesterday, ITV showed a Trevor MacDonald documentary profiling the murder investigation which Alice’s family have previewed.
Sue said: “It was difficult to watch but not as bad as the trial. The trial was just horrendous, all of the horrible details that we had to hear.
“It was interesting to see the detectives who we have come to know now and see their reactions and them at work on the case.”
The documentary features footage of Trimaan Dhillon in custody just hours after he had killed Alice in her Gateshead home.
Sue said that was particularly difficult to watch.
“I still find it so weird the way he was just hours after he killed her, he shows no remorse, nothing, he doesn’t seem to care that Alice was dead. That’s the reaction of a stalker, it is nothing to do with love, it is about her being his possession.”
Since Alice’s death her family and friends have set up the Alice Ruggles’ Trust and are campaigning for more to be done to stop stalking.
In the days before her murder, Alice contacted the Police to ask for help and report Dhillon’s increasingly controlling behaviour.
The IPCC has launched an enquiry into the police’s handling of the case earlier this week.
Sue said: “The police have been amazing with us but I think procedures need to change across the country, not just at Northumbria Police.
“To me stalking is like drink driving, just because you are drunk and driving doesn’t mean you will kill someone, but you could and you might, same with stalkers, they could and they might kill.
“It makes me angry that when Alice died she joined a list of people killed by their stalkers and that list will grow and grow.”