I DID it for my mum.

Those were the words of 16-year-old Aimee Merritt as she celebrated passing all nine GCSEs despite the tragedy that had engulfed her life just months earlier.

Aimee's carer mum Sarah Merritt was brutally murdered when she paid a routine visit to her disabled client Susan Hale in March this year.

Killer David Tiley had knifed his fiancee Miss Hale to death before sexually assaulting and fatally stabbing Mrs Merritt days later.

After Tiley was jailed for life in June, Aimee told how she had only returned to Bitterne Park Secondary School and carried on with her GCSE work because that's what her mum wanted.

Today she was celebrating her remarkable success and told the Daily Echo: "I just wanted to make mum proud."

Talking about her results - one A, four Bs and four Cs - she said: "I did it for my mum. She made me keep going even when I really didn't want to. I wanted to make everyone proud but mostly her.

"I was nervous going to school to collect the results but I went with my friends and I couldn't believe it when I found out how I had done. I phoned my dad at work and he's really happy. I did so much better than I ever thought"

SUCCESS: Aimee Merritt