The family of a teenager murdered by her “monster” boyfriend has spoken exclusively to the Borehamwood and Elstree Times .

Catherine Wynter, known as Katy to her friends, was stabbed 23 times by “evil fantasist” Tony Bushby as she babysat two small children at her sister’s house in Beech Drive, Borehamwood, in December.

Yesterday, her 19-year-old killer was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 25 years.

Speaking after the sentencing and wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with her daughter’s photo, her mother, Joy Briscoe, retold the horrifying moment she discovered the “angelic” 19-year-old’s bloodied body. 

The 57-year-old says she still struggles to find the words to describe the pain.

“I saw blood on the door and I froze. I touched her skin and she was cold. The ambulance came and I asked them if she was still alive - it was a mother’s hope.

“The children kept asking me if I could send her to God so he could fix her and send her back.

“It was the most chilling day of my life.”

To this day, Mrs Briscoe says she cannot be certain how much of the gruesome killing the children saw.

She added: “He took away a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a friend. This was not just one murder, it was a quadruple murder.”

Katy’s older sister Sabrina Charles says the art student’s murder has left her feeling “unbelievably empty.”

Chillingly, it was in the kitchen where Katy was found that Miss Charles first met her sibling’s murderer. 

Speaking with tears in her eyes, she said: “He was very standoffish, unfriendly and distant.

“He did not seem interested in my sister at all and he seemed very unnerved by my presence.

“She was smitten but rarely spoke about him and they never saw each other. I did try and get things out of her but it was like closing a curtain, there was nothing there.

“I had no idea he would end up hurting her the way he did.”

Sabrina was driving home from her partner’s house on Boxing Day when her mother phoned to deliver the news that would change her life forever.

“I was numb, I wanted to fly, to float, to do anything that would make it seem less real. It did not sink in until I got home and heard my mum on the phone to the police.

“Words cannot explain how I felt at that moment. Everything shattered.”

Sabrina says her grief turned to anger when she faced up to her sister’s former boyfriend when he gave evidence during the three-week trial.

“Seeing him on the stand made me pity him. He is a loser and a nobody. He did not seem remorseful at all, and that made me angry.

“He is manipulative and thinks he is cocky and confident but he is really very fake. He has broken my heart and he has wrecked the lives of our whole family.

“His life sentence has restored my faith in the justice system, but it doesn’t change the fact that society has lost one of their best. No amount of time Bushby serves will bring her back.”

With the trial now at an end, Sabrina prefers to remember happier times with her sister.

She said: “I was eleven-years-old when she was born and it was the happiest day of my life.

“She was like an angel born to bless our lives. I remember her dancing a lot, she loved to dance.”

Her cousin, Wynsom Wright, 22, said: “Life will never be the same without her again. Her smile was my favourite thing about her.

“She was so talented, always drawing. She drew me a Scorpio and I plan to get a tattoo of it to remember her by.

“There was just no bad bone in her body. For this to happen, to her of all people, is very sad.

“The only comfort we have is that she is shining in heaven .She is still with us, wherever we go.”