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She will light the 18 candles on her daughter’s birthday cake and then Sonia Oatley will turn to look at the smiling face of her eldest girl in a treasured photograph.

The picture captures a happy moment frozen in time, but Rebecca is no longer around to enjoy a slice of cake or a glass of champagne.

Instead of celebrating the milestone together later this week, Sonia will be placing flowers on her child’s grave.

Her little girl, Rebecca Aylward – known as Becca – was murdered by her 16-year-old ex-boyfriend Joshua Davies.

In a case that shocked the nation, Davies bragged to a friend about ­bludgeoning the 15-year-old to death in exchange for a free breakfast.

Weeks before the 2010 attack Davies calmly discussed ways he could kill Rebecca with pals he met every Saturday. He said he might poison or drown her, or push her off a cliff.

And he texted one: “What would you do if I did kill her?” The mate quipped: “Oh, I would buy you breakfast.”

Later Davies caved in Rebecca’s skull with a rock the size of a rugby ball after luring her to a wood.

He then bragged about it to his mates, texting one: “I think you might owe me that breakfast.”

For Sonia, 52, the grief is still raw, but she is determined to mark her ­daughter’s 18th for the sake of Becca’s sister Jessica, 15, and brother Jack, 11.

“It’s going to be a very difficult day, but it feels right to honour what would have been her 18th birthday, as best we can without her,” she says.

“Becca was such a fun-loving girl. I know in my heart of hearts she would want us to do something, plus we want to show her how much we miss her.

“I’m sure she’ll be looking down on us, smiling. When I think about what we’ve had taken away from us, I almost can’t breathe. Had she been here I would have seen her grow into the beautiful young woman I know she would have been, but thanks to that monster that has been robbed from me.

“I’m still struggling to accept those things are part of a future she will never have.

“This would have been such a big year for her. Like all her old friends she would have finished school and been doing her university applications.

“She was so clever and wanted to be a barrister – I know she’d have done it as well. She made me so proud.

“Becca was everything you could ask for – clever, beautiful, funny and kind. She had time for everyone, she would never have hurt a fly.”

(Image: Huw Evans)

On Thursday, her birthday, Sonia and the family will leave an empty chair at the table. They will also take Becca’s favourite flowers, dark-red roses and white gypsophila, to her grave near the family home in Maesteg, South Wales.

They then plan to tie messages to balloons and release them so they can reach their “angel” in heaven.

Later they will dine in her favourite Italian restaurant before releasing white lanterns on a nearby beach and asking her friends to light a candle.

Rebecca’s room, where Sonia sits to feel close to her little girl, is exactly as it was on the day she left the house for the last time.

“Life without Rebecca never gets any easier,” she says. “I just feel numb, we all do. I look at pictures of her as a little girl, dressing up in my clothes, and still can’t believe she’s not here. Not a day goes by when I don’t miss her, ever.

“There are certain things that trigger it, such as 4pm when I still half-expect her to come in from school, it was one of my favourite times of the day.

“She used to flop on to the sofa next to me and tell me all about what she’d been doing and the gossip from her friends. We were extremely close.

“I feel like now I’m just existing as opposed to living.”

Davies, who Sonia calls “the monster” as she cannot bear to utter his name, showed no remorse as he was sent down for a minimum of 14 years in 2011.

Often in court he would stand and smirk as details of what he did to Becca were read out.

But Sonia fears he could be free by the age of 29 – free to have the future her daughter can’t.

She has described the justice system as handing the family a life sentence. Now Sonia and friend Cathy Broomfield – whose daughter Kirsty Grabham, 23, was murdered by husband Paul – are campaigning for A Life For A Life, tougher life sentences for killers.

They are hoping to gather enough signatures on a petition to be able to present it to Government. “The judge’s hands were tied by our legal system, so I understand it was not his fault,” Sonia concedes.

“But the justice system failed us – surely life should mean life.

“It’s a joke and we need to put an end to these soft sentences now.

“The majority of killers who are released go on to reoffend. When are we going to take a stand?

this monster, who we let into our lives, our home, our family, took away my beautiful daughter, and all her hopes and dreams.

“Becca will never go to college, or come home with stories and tales that make us laugh.

“She won’t be able to come downstairs showing me new clothes that she’s bought.

“She’ll never sit snuggled on the sofa giggling and telling me about her day. Nor will she ever feel the love I felt for her by having children of her own. It breaks my heart – she would have been a wonderful mother.

“But the monster who did it will one day do all the things she can’t.

“He could be out of jail by the age of 30. He can get married, have children, go to university, learn to drive. All the things she can’t. How is that fair?”

Sonia is writing a book Bye Mam, I Love You, the last words Becca said as she left home the day she was killed.

Sonia says: “Becca bounded out so excitedly that day. She’d had a text from him asking her to meet. She thought they were going to get back together – she was so happy, she adored him.

“I’d hugged her and told her to call me when she needed collecting. If I’d known what was going to happen I’d have held on to her, never let her go.

“That monster should have no human rights – that was forfeit when he took my beautiful Becca’s life.

“We have been dealt the life sentence, not him. That monster should rot in prison until the day he dies.”

- For information and to support Sonia’s campaign, visit www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/alife4alife