“IF he was the man who killed our daughter we will never know why he did it.”

It is the agonising situation that the parents of Teresa De Simone today find themselves facing as remains of the man suspected of raping and strangling their daughter three decades ago were exhumed.

Mary and Michael Sedotti have endured a rollercoaster of emotions during the past year as the shocking reality that the man they thought had taken Teresa’s life turned out to be innocent.

The elderly couple had braced themselves for the possibility that they may never find out who was in fact responsible for robbing them of their only child.

Now, having learnt for the first time about several confessions about Teresa’s murder during the 1980s, they face an anxious wait to find out if the man police are labelling as a prime suspect is indeed responsible.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Echo, they told how they were pleased with the breakthrough but it is tempered with an angst that if he is proven to be her killer, he will never be able to tell them why.

Mary said: It’s difficult to know how to feel. We spent so long thinking the man responsible was in prison. If it was this person then it’s such a shame that he didn’t tell anybody. If only he had left a note before he took his own life – it could have potentially saved a lot of taxpayers’ money which was spent on keeping another man in prison and now paying him compensation.

“In a way it is hard knowing that he is not here to answer or to explain. But then at the same time I think that what he did shows he must have had a conscience.

He must have been very troubled.

“He must have known he had done something so terribly wrong but he didn’t tell anybody so who knows what was on his mind.

Now we must wait to see if he is the man who killed Teresa, and if he is we will never know why he did it.”

Mary added: “We feel very sorry for his family. It must be awful for them. It is not their fault and must have come as a terrible shock.

“It was a few weeks ago when we first heard of this breakthrough and it was quite a surprise.

I didn’t think they would find somebody after all this time. It has been very quick.”

Michael, who was Teresa’s stepfather, added: “I have always said why would anyone kill a young person like that, in such a vicious way. No right thinking person would do that to another human being.

“He didn’t even know her, There must have been something very wrong.

“Knowing Teresa as we knew her, she would never hurt a fly.

She had everything to live for.

She was a very shy person who had made good friends who were nice people.”

Mary added: “She didn’t deserve to die like that. If it is proven that he did this it will be nice to know they did get someone in the end. We always thought they had the right man until the shock came from out of the blue.

“The police have found this person so quickly and have done a good job. If it is him, it will have saved us from a second trial – I couldn’t have gone through that. The first time round was bad enough. It’s a relief in a sense.”