Zaklina Konev

The murder of Katerina Konev left her family devastated and embittered.

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In a statement at Kunowski's sentencing, Zaklina Konev said, "I find it impossible to understand how he was allowed into the UK to commit this crime. ... I hope that this evil murderer burns in hell. Knowing he is in prison is not enough for me. I hope he suffers every minute of the rest of his life."

The child's parents split up in 2000, four years after the murder.

Trajce Konev said they could not overcome the barrier created when his wife, seeing him in jail, accused him of murdering their daughter.

Katerina Koneva

"I had lost my little girl, but my wife was attacking me, and my 6-year-old son was looking up at me with hate in his eyes," he told reporters.

"Things were never the same. The anger and hate afterwards was unbearable," he said. "I would argue all the time with my wife. It was small things that would set us off — anything which reminded us of the pain of losing Katerina. I frequently told my wife I hated her. It was awful. I felt like I had gone mad with grief ... Finally we could take no more of each other and we split up."

Konev, a Web site designer, said he attempted suicide but has resolved to live for the sake of his son, now a teenager.

Zaklina Konev says grief hangs like a dark cloud over their lives.

She said she buys gifts for her daughter at Christmastime, and she carries on imaginary conversations with the dead child.

"I talk to her every day," she said. "We say goodnight to our children, don't we? So I always say goodnight to my daughter."

The child's father, meanwhile, said he drew solace from Kunowski's conviction.

"I had finally beaten the devil," said Trajce Konev. "I knew this man could never again do to anyone else what he had done to my angel."

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