THE mother of murdered Jayden Parkinson will let off lanterns and fireworks to mark the first anniversary of the teenager’s disappearance tonight.

Samantha Shrewsbury will gather with friends and family of the 17-year-old at land off Foxhall Road, Didcot, from 7pm.

The Didcot Girls’ School pupil was killed by her ex-boyfriend Ben Blakeley in countryside south of Didcot last December.

It is thought she met him to tell him she was pregnant and try to persuade him he was the father.

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Her body was found in the grave of his uncle Alan Kennedy in the graveyard at All Saints' Church in Didcot on December 18.

Mrs Shrewsbury, 47, said: “I didn’t want the kids to leave loads of flowers outside the church.

“I wanted people to come and pay their respects.

“I am glad people are going to be there – it means you can’t lose the plot. I need to keep the mask on that I have had for the last year.”

The anniversary comes after Mrs Shrewsbury walked to the scene of Jayden’s death with police for the first time on Friday.

The mother-of-two last saw Jayden at the One Foot Forward hostel in Iffley Road, Oxford, at about 2.30pm on December 3. About an hour later she left to meet Blakeley at Oxford train station to go to Didcot Parkway and they then took a taxi to Park Road at the edge of town.

The anniversary comes after Mrs Shrewsbury walked to the scene of Jayden’s death with police for the first time on Friday.

She said of her last meeting with her daughter: “We talked about abortions and options and she said she was going to keep it. I said I would stand by her no matter what.

“We planned to meet on the Friday, we were going to take her maternity and Christmas shopping.”

Blakeley was found guilty of murder at Oxford Crown Court in July and sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum of 20 years.

She said of last Friday: “I felt sick to just think with every step I am getting close to where she died.

“I didn’t want to do it when the trial was going on, I wasn’t strong enough.

“That part of what happened to her is not in my head any more. I don’t have so many different scenarios. I know how it was now.

“It was harder, much harder than I was expecting.”

Mrs Shrewsbury said: “It is one minute at a time, one hour at a time. My life seems to have frozen in that moment in time.

“It is really hard. All I want is to have her back.

“If I could swap places with her I would swap it in a heartbeat.”

Blakeley’s younger brother Jake, accused of preventing a lawful burial, will be tried in January.

Tonight’s event will be on land opposite All Saints' Church.

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