Jodie Willsher’s husband has described how his wife’s murder has left their grief-stricken four-year-old daughter blaming him for “not bringing mummy back”.

A heart-breaking statement from Malcolm Willsher, 36, was read to a packed Bradford Crown Court as his wife’s killer, Neville Hord, looked on emotionless from the dock.

In the statement, Mr Willsher said: “I have to explain it to Megan who then says to me ‘I hate you daddy for not bringing mummy back. You’re not trying hard enough’.

“She then says ‘daddy, can’t I have a brother or sister any more’ or ‘won’t mummy ever be a granny now?’.

“How do you deal with that?”

Mr Willsher said: “The death of my wife has ripped my life apart”.

He said his wife was his “soul-mate” and “so full of life” and added: “Jodie’s description of herself and Megan was ‘a brunette and a blond with an unbreakable bond’.”

The statement said: “She didn’t even get to see Megan open her Christmas presents and she’d been so excited about that.

“We were supposed to be going away to Disneyland on Boxing Day.”

Mr Willsher said: “She should have died with family and people she loved around her, not on a supermarket floor with him being pinned down two metres away.

“He deserves to rot in hell.”

He said in the statement: “I’m so scared he will get out and do something to Megan.”

In response to this, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC told Hord: “The high probability is that you will never be released from prison.”

And he added: “Malcolm’s fears for Megan perhaps can be laid to rest.”