Lydia: For this I’ll never forgive you
LYDIA Wilkinson looked at Barley as she read an impact statement from the witness box and told the monster: “You obliterated my life.”
She went on: “Aaron, my parents helped you and you repaid them with destruction and heartbreak. You murdered half my family, nearly all of it. For this I will never forgive you.”
Barley who had sat head bowed, finally looked into her eyes, sobbed and appeared to mouth “I’m sorry”. Lydia later said: “I thought dad was going to pass away that night. My sole focus at that moment was my dad, because he was the only thing I had left in life.”
She had to identify the bodies of her mother and brother and added: “I said I was sorry I couldn’t protect them. I stroked their hair. I just stayed there because I knew that was going to
be the last time I saw them in my life.”