Plea from mother of headless murder victim

The mother of a man whose severed head and body parts were scattered around a housing estate yesterday appealed for help to find his killer. The head of Tristian Lovelock, 25, was found on Friday by a man walking his dog at a recreation ground in the Southam area of Basingstoke, Hampshire.

The officer leading the investigation confirmed on Sunday that Richard Markham, 27, who is wanted in connection with the case, flew to New York from Heathrow on Friday night. Detectives have passed a warrant for his arrest to Interpol in Washington.

Ruth Halliday, supported by her husband, Robin, 36, yesterday read a statement at a press conference in Basingstoke appealing for help in finding Mr Markham.

"I have lost my son Tristian, Tristian's sister has lost her brother, Tristian's daughter and son have lost their daddy," Mrs Halliday, 46, said. "Please, please help me and Tristian with any information you may have to find Richard Markham. I do not want anyone else to suffer like this."

A cab driver said he took Mr Markham to Heathrow on Friday and he seemed calm. Mr Markham told him he had split up with his girlfriend and needed to get away. He paid in cash from a large wad of notes.

Mr Lovelock, a jobless carpenter, was separated from the mother of his two children. He was last seen alive at 8pm on Thursday, drinking with Mr Markham at a house in Basingstoke. Police found remains at a house. The other body parts were discovered in a weekend search. A pathologist said Mr Lovelock had died from head injuries made with a blunt instrument.

He had made an entry on the Friends Reunited website on 15 April reading: "A carnival of words, magic and mystical, a circle of friends mad and hysterical, watching a mad man, dazed and bewildered, shouting demands from the top of a temple! I, Tristian Robert Lovelock, now announce I am clinically insane."