A YEAR on from her daughter's horrific murder, Dyanne Lambert wants to look back on the good times as her family prepares to mark the unwanted anniversary.

Animal lover Laura Davies, who worked as a horse groom at the Essex Horse and Pony Protection Society, in Pitsea, was viciously killed on July 3, 2015, a year ago on Sunday.

Her boyfriend Jordan Taylor, 22, stabbed her 81 times during a frenzied attack in the grounds of the sanctuary, where they both lived together, after 21-year-old Laura tried to dump him.

Following a trial, unemployed Taylor, who denied murder and maintained that he acted in self-defence, was found guilty and jailed for 23 years in January.

As the anniversary of her death approaches, Ms Lambert, of Churchill Avenue, Basildon, reflects on how her family's lives have changed so much since that fateful day.

The 54-year-old said: "It's been extremely hard.

"I have my good days and my bad days but this last month has been really hard knowing what is coming up. I have found it a bit of a struggle.

"It's quite an emotional time at the moment but my family have all been very supportive of each other."

To mark the anniversary, Dyanne will be holding a private barbecue with family and close friends.

At the sanctuary, colleagues will be gathering after the gates have closed to lay flowers and release 100 balloons with Laura's face on into the sky.

Ms Lambert said: "We are going to have a barbecue on Saturday and it will be a celebration of her life to talk about her and how wonderful she was.

"Hopefully there won't be any tears because that's not what Laura would have wanted.

"We want to talk about the good times.

"We will also be laying flowers for her at the sanctuary on the Sunday."

Over the course of the past year, Laura's family have had to come to terms with her death and sit through a trial to eventually find her murderer convicted.

Ms Lambert said the trial was particularly tough.

She said: "I just felt numb, it was so overwhelming.

"We had a couple of people sitting with us, who were just ordinary people from the street. They ended up sitting with us throughout the trial and they offered a lot of comfort and support."

In March, the Echo reported Ms Lambert wanted to meet her daughter's killer in prison so she could finally accept the savage attack and get questions answered.

However, she has decided against it after Taylor reached out and wrote her a letter.

She said: "He wrote to me and he said that he had seen the paper. He said that he was going to tell me what had been brought up in court.

"He told me that he loved her but that is no consolation at all.

"The main thing was that he never said sorry.

"I was so angry and upset. It took me about three or four weeks to answer it but I did, even though I was advised not to.

"I wanted to say some really horrible things but I was polite and to the point. I said that he never showed he was sorry."

Despite struggling with overwhelming grief, Laura's family have taken the time to raise awareness of domestic abuse and fundraise for the horse and pony sanctuary.

They launched an awareness campaign over social media and even took their cause to national television.

This month, they appeared on ITV show Judge Rinder's Crime Stories to tell their side of Laura's murder and to highlight the signs of domestic abuse.

Looking forward, Ms Lambert said they will do everything they can to keep Laura's memory alive.

She said: "It's not the right time now to think about events in the future but we want to keep Laura in everyone's thoughts, perhaps we will do fundraising events but we won't stop talking about her and letting people know about her.

"Laura was cremated and I take her ashes around with me in a tube. I can't right now, but in the future, I might like to scatter her ashes.

"One thing is for sure, she will never be forgotten."