THE estranged wife of Bernadette Walker’s killer has said she feels "immense guilt" for not warning the teen’s mum off Scott Walker.
The sex-obsessed monster, 51, was found guilty of his step-daughter's murder after forming an “unholy alliance” with her mum Sarah Walker and spinning a web of lies to dupe police.
Bernadette Walker's body has never been found 5
Dad Scott and mum Sarah pretended Bernadette was still alive
Now, Jill Walker, who is still legally married to Walker, has revealed how she managed to escape his abuse back in 2006.
Jill told the Daily Mail that at the time her "highly-sexed" husband would force her to have sex every day, no matter what and even threatened to kill her.
She and Walker were living next door to Bernadette - then only a toddler - and her family in Milnthorpe Lane, Wakefield, when at some point, Walker started to have an affair with Sarah.
Jill said Sarah and Walker later moved from Yorkshire to his home town of Peterborough, with the mum later contacting her worried about "whether he would hurt her children".
"Maybe I could have saved Bernadette," NHS support worker Jill said.
"I have immense feelings of guilt about being able to save her if I'd warned Sarah more.
"I told Sarah not to move. I told her that he would alienate her from her friends and family and taking her away would make this worse."
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Walker will be sentenced in September Credit: PA
Bernadette told her mum Walker had been secretly filming her
Her dad has today been found guilty of murder
"Knowing he has murdered Bernadette has shaken my world to the core," she added.
"How can you process the fact that somebody you are legally married to has killed a child?"
Bernadette disappeared last July aged 17 after confiding in her mum that her step-dad had allegedly been sexually abusing her.
Jill met Walker when she was 39 in 2004, but he soon started behaving in a possessive and controlling way.
By the time he proposed nine months later, she was too frightened to say no.
"He would demand sex from me almost every day," Jill said.
"It didn't matter if I was ill or if I'd worked three days straight. He would always say 'I have my needs'. If I said no, he'd badger me for hours and just get into bed and do what he wanted."
SICKENING ABUSE
Walker was found guilty of Bernadette's murder after forming an “unholy alliance” with her mum Sarah, Cambridge Crown Court heard.
The couple sent messages from her phone and social media accounts after reporting her missing to "lay a false trail".
Sarah, 38, was convicted of two counts of perverting the course of justice.
Walker cooked up the "devious, wicked" plot after Bernadette told her mum he had been sexually abusing her in a murderous bid to silence her.
The court was told heard how Bernadette, who called Walker 'Dad', told her mum he had been "sexually abusing her over a number of years".
She also said he spied on her undressing using cameras hidden in the bathroom and touched her inappropriately in a games room.
The teen was sent to her grandparents' home in Peterborough after the sickening allegations were made and was said to be "very upset".
Bernadette kept sobbing and saying she wanted her mum to believe her as she kept repeating: "I'm not lying".
But she soon turned "quiet" when Walker arrived the next morning to pick her up.
WEB OF LIES
The depraved dad told the court how he was driving Bernadette home that day when she ran off while he rolled a cigarette.
The fiend's phone was switched off on the day she vanished between 11.23am until 12.54pm - with prosecutors saying he killed her in that period.
His first call after switching his phone back on was a nine minute call to Sarah Walker.
It is then they concocted a grim plan to throw investigators off the scent and make them believe Bernadette was still alive.
The pair kept hold of Bernadette's phone and continued to send messages to her friends so it looked like she was still alive.
They then lied to police to give them "no hope of finding" Bernadette.
The teen was finally reported missing after three days and a huge search was mounted.
When asked why they waited so long to report her missing, Walker gave a string of excuses - including him never believing she wasn't safe.
He even posted desperate appeals for information on social media and begged Bernadette to let him know she was OK.
The parents were eventually arrested about a month and a half later when police launched a "no body" murder probe.
Lisa Wilding QC said: "Since the day she disappeared… no-one who knew her or loved her has heard from her.
"She is presumed dead and, as you will come to hear, it's likely that her body was disposed of, probably in the countryside in the hours that followed her killing.
"The prosecution allege that Scott Walker killed Bea to prevent her pursuing her allegations of sexual abuse any further.
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"He then enlisted the help of her mother, his wife, to cover his tracks and to provide them both with some time to formulate the next part of their plan.
"They lied to everyone around them… All parental love and responsibility was gone, if ever it actually existed."
Walker will be sentenced on September 10.
Bernadette Walker's mother rings 999 to report teenage daughter 'missing'