Stacey: Evidence of sexual attack

At a dramatic press conference Detective Chief Inspector Tricia Kirk said that officers had discovered evidence of "touching" on the nine-year-old's body.

Stepfather Darren Walker strangled Stacey in the cab of his lorry before hanging himself in a tree nearby, police say.

A black fabric was used in both deaths, it was revealed today. Police now want to trace three ex-partners of lorry driver Walker in the West Midlands.

The details emerged after Stacey's mother said in a heart-rending tribute today: "My life is ruined."

Roxanne Lawrence said she had been planning to marry 40-year-old Walker, the man Stacey called Dad.

She had spoken to him a few hours before their bodies were discovered and they had both seemed "perfectly okay", she said. Stacey, who loved animals and wanted to be a zoo keeper, was getting ready to watch her favourite TV programme "My Family" in the lorry when she spoke to her on Friday night.

Today she told the Express & Star about her 'darling daughter' and the life she had led with Walker, who she believed was a dedicated family man. And she revealed: "I'm trying to be angry with him but I'm finding it really difficult because I loved him.

"Stacey was a really happy little girl and was very popular with lots of friends. I just can't believe she is gone. It shocked all of us because he was such a lovely family guy."

Mrs Lawrence, 38, of Bagnall Street, West Bromwich, said: "He has just shocked everyone, we never dreamed he would do anything like that."

Mrs Lawrence, a voluntary worker, met Walker because her elder daughter Emma Hammond was going out with Walker's nephew. Walker lived with his mother Rosemary in Hickman Road, Bilston. It is believed he used to live in Third Avenue, Low Hill, Wolverhampton.

He had a previous caution for ABH against his estranged wife who was in the process of divorcing him.

Stacey, who suffered from arthritis, had gone out with Walker on his delivery run for Spar as a "treat".

She was due to begin in year five of the brand new Eaton Valley School, in Dagger Lane, West Bromwich, next Monday.

Police have seized a family computer, where recent pictures of Stacey were saved.

Mrs Lawrence added: "She used to call him dad. I've been wracking my brains. He never ever went upstairs to her bedroom, he never gave us any reason to even contemplate that he could do something like that.

"He didn't have a temper. I can honestly say I never saw it, he never raised his voice at the children or at me."

Stacey had three siblings, Emma, Hammond, 17, Luke Hammond, 15, and 11-year-old TJ Lawrence. But she had not seen her father Terry Lawrence for five years. The last time Mrs Lawrence saw her daughter was at 3am on Friday as she kissed her goodbye. She said: "The last thing I said to her was have a good time, I spoke to them a few times during the day. The last time was 8.35pm on Friday, they had watched EastEnders and were getting ready for bed."

Mrs Lawrence then started ringing from 8.30am on Saturday. She started to worry after phoning the company where he worked just after midday and they said the lorry tracker had not moved since Friday night.

She said: "My initial thought was that they had been lorry-jacked. Even when police said they had found two bodies I thought somebody had done it to them. The thing that hurts me most is knowing that she was in pain in her final moments."

She added: "Initially I felt guilty, thinking that I shouldn't have let her go but if anything was happening she wouldn't have wanted to go. No one is to blame but him."

Walker picked up the lorry at the depot at Willenhall at 4am on Friday. Police found Stacey in his lorry in a lay-by in Warmington, Northamptonshire, on Saturday.