"WE MISS him but we hope he's all right."Those were the words today from the neighbour who took care of an 11-year-old Ani Chiti after his mother and brother were killed and father committed suicide.

"WE MISS him but we hope he's all right."

Those were the words today from the neighbour who took care of an 11-year-old Ani Chiti after his mother and brother were killed and father committed suicide.

Diane Spalding and her family were close friends of the Chiti family and would often visit their home for dinner or drinks.

For the last five months Mrs Spalding has had to deal with the painful memories of what took place in the house next door – since Jayaprakash stabbed his wife Anupama before jumping from the Orwell bridge clutching their second son Pranau, aged 2.

It was Mrs Spalding who took Ani in on the morning of the tragedy, before he was told about the news that would change his world forever.

Knowing she must keep such a tragic secret from him until he was informed by the police, Mrs Spalding did her best to carry on as normal, while he watched Tom and Jerry cartoons and played video games.

Mrs Spalding said the deaths had been particularly hard for her 12-year-old son David who would regularly spend hours playing with Ani.

She said: "He misses Ani alot. We know he's in America with Anu's family but we haven't heard anything since they went. We would love to hear from the family to find out how he is."

"David's found it very hard to cope with. In the early days it was very hard for him because everybody at school kept asking him questions about what had happened.

"Even now he finds it very difficult to go over the Orwell Bridge and when he saw yesterday's paper he burst in to tears.

She said: "I think the shock of it was a bit delayed in some ways. To begin with it didn't really sink in."

Mrs Spalding was pregnant at the time and now has a four month old son, Jake. She says the news did not really sink in until after his birth.

"After I had my son in March I found it very difficult to come to terms with it. I know Anu and Ani were both looking forward to the arrival of the little one so much.

"I had some vouchers Anu had given me at Christmas which I hadn't had a chance to spend. When Jake was born I decided to spend them on something for him because I know that's what she would've wanted."

Mrs Spalding said she was surprised to learn of the problems with the couple's marriage and knew nothing about Anupama's friendship with Dr William Dunn.

"We never suspected anything was wrong. They always seemed very happy together.

"Anu was definitely far more European than Indian in her outlook, and Jay was very Indian, so I suppose you are going to get some conflict.

"I hope the conclusion of the inquest will allow people to start to be able to put things behind them. It's been such a huge loss but we are at the stage now where we just want to move on."