lauren 3
Without Prejudice
I spoke to Kerry Froud today, Lauren's old friend, she's now 34, as Lauren would have been, 20th March this year. Kerry had been waiting for Lauren that day, that fateful day. The day before they had both been working on a science project about mice, at Kerry's house. Those bloody mice! Lauren had hidden them in her room and i found them, drawn by the smell. They had a little house in her wardrobe. She cried when I made her take them away....
The previous two weeks had been hot and hotter. Kerry had a call that day the 30th November from Tanya, she wanted Kerry to come over and stay. Gayle, Kerry's Mum, said
" no.It's a school night "
But Kerry and Gayle were to know something we didn't. Tanya's dad was going out to the Pool Hall and would be leaving Tanya on her own with her brother. Tanya then rang Lauren..........
Kerry had planned for Lauren to come over that night, after school, they were going to watch a Freddie Krueger movie and Dream A Little Dream , but Lauren never came, She had gone to Tanya's to stay over. Three factors then came into play.
Tanya lived near the pool.
the pool had been heated that year for the first time and covers had been installed also for the first time.
And there was a gate, a damaged one that kids had been getting in through and swimming at night.
Kerry waited for Lauren, that night, but she didn't arrive. She said every day for two weeks Lauren would go home, get changed and turn up at Kerry's. I have photos of that time the two girls inseparable, pretty girls of 12, playing grown up or just playing. Gayle. Kerry's Mum and i had been pregnant at the same time and our girls had met up at The Freedom Club, just babies really. Their friendship grew and grew and sustained them both over the years. Kerry still mourns her as much as if it had just happened. It has destroyed her life in a way and I try to assure her to go on. To be what Lauren would want this closer than best friend to be.
I spoke to her today and she remembers the details with unbelievable clarity.... every detail.
Kerry had been to school that next day and there was no Lauren and no Tanya. She had gone home and another of lauren's friends Holly Cooper had rung her. Apparently Holly's brother had been watching the news all day and saw what looked to be Lauren's clothes help up by police for identification. Holly rang Kerry and said she was coming straight over. The little girls then took it on themselves to ring the pool. The people there suggested the girls ring the Police, which they did. Kerry said she thought it was her friend they had found at the pools. The police were non commital at first, but Kerry provided a description that no one else could have known. The previous Sat night Deb had helped Lauren colour her hair Burgundy. When Kerry provided this fact the policeman paused. Kerry said that pause, haunts her still. With that pause kerry knew .........just like me she knew. She rang the factory and spoke to Deb, not wanting to alarm her but she and holly were crying.
Lauren's burgundy hair had leaked into the pool. A gruesome sight for the man that rolled back the covers on the pool the next morning. But still after they discovered our daughters body they opened the pool for business as if nothing had happened That fact haunted us for years.
Kerry rang Alena and Yvette at the house. While Yvette was taping "Days Of Our Lives" she had seen the clothes the Police had held up as well, but it was too incomprehensible to Yvette that the clothes could belong to her sister. Not her baby sister who was so proud of Yvette for being a Mum. Not her sister who had toiled over hand made items for the expected baby. An embroidered pillow for kyle. Not lauren who had caught a bus every day to the hospital with Kerry after school, to spend hours gazing at the baby, Kyle, and eating Yvette's left over hospital food. Not Lauren, couldn't be Lauren who had filled out her first year at High school diary with entries of how many days to go for the baby to arrive. And not Lauren who she had waved off the previous night clutching her school bag.
Looking back I can still remember the strange look on Yvette's face as she asked if Bob and I had known the fact that a girls body had been found at Noble Park Pool. Yvette was wary of her Dad. They had several run ins over the years, not least the one that she was pregnant at 17 and bob hated the father of the child, Simon, who was just 16. Yvette's baby boy was just two weeks old and to say that Yvette went into meltdown after Lauren's death, would be the understatement of the decade. But she had seen the Bali Top lauren wore, held up by the Police for the midday news cameras and the bikini bottoms. Yvette also knew, just knew, but would not believe it. Things like this did not happen to us, not ordinary people like us.
I spoke to Kerry Froud today, Lauren's old friend, she's now 34, as Lauren would have been, 20th March this year. Kerry had been waiting for Lauren that day, that fateful day. The day before they had both been working on a science project about mice, at Kerry's house. Those bloody mice! Lauren had hidden them in her room and i found them, drawn by the smell. They had a little house in her wardrobe. She cried when I made her take them away....
The previous two weeks had been hot and hotter. Kerry had a call that day the 30th November from Tanya, she wanted Kerry to come over and stay. Gayle, Kerry's Mum, said
" no.It's a school night "
But Kerry and Gayle were to know something we didn't. Tanya's dad was going out to the Pool Hall and would be leaving Tanya on her own with her brother. Tanya then rang Lauren..........
Kerry had planned for Lauren to come over that night, after school, they were going to watch a Freddie Krueger movie and Dream A Little Dream , but Lauren never came, She had gone to Tanya's to stay over. Three factors then came into play.
Tanya lived near the pool.
the pool had been heated that year for the first time and covers had been installed also for the first time.
And there was a gate, a damaged one that kids had been getting in through and swimming at night.
Kerry waited for Lauren, that night, but she didn't arrive. She said every day for two weeks Lauren would go home, get changed and turn up at Kerry's. I have photos of that time the two girls inseparable, pretty girls of 12, playing grown up or just playing. Gayle. Kerry's Mum and i had been pregnant at the same time and our girls had met up at The Freedom Club, just babies really. Their friendship grew and grew and sustained them both over the years. Kerry still mourns her as much as if it had just happened. It has destroyed her life in a way and I try to assure her to go on. To be what Lauren would want this closer than best friend to be.
I spoke to her today and she remembers the details with unbelievable clarity.... every detail.
Kerry had been to school that next day and there was no Lauren and no Tanya. She had gone home and another of lauren's friends Holly Cooper had rung her. Apparently Holly's brother had been watching the news all day and saw what looked to be Lauren's clothes help up by police for identification. Holly rang Kerry and said she was coming straight over. The little girls then took it on themselves to ring the pool. The people there suggested the girls ring the Police, which they did. Kerry said she thought it was her friend they had found at the pools. The police were non commital at first, but Kerry provided a description that no one else could have known. The previous Sat night Deb had helped Lauren colour her hair Burgundy. When Kerry provided this fact the policeman paused. Kerry said that pause, haunts her still. With that pause kerry knew .........just like me she knew. She rang the factory and spoke to Deb, not wanting to alarm her but she and holly were crying.
Lauren's burgundy hair had leaked into the pool. A gruesome sight for the man that rolled back the covers on the pool the next morning. But still after they discovered our daughters body they opened the pool for business as if nothing had happened That fact haunted us for years.
Kerry rang Alena and Yvette at the house. While Yvette was taping "Days Of Our Lives" she had seen the clothes the Police had held up as well, but it was too incomprehensible to Yvette that the clothes could belong to her sister. Not her baby sister who was so proud of Yvette for being a Mum. Not her sister who had toiled over hand made items for the expected baby. An embroidered pillow for kyle. Not lauren who had caught a bus every day to the hospital with Kerry after school, to spend hours gazing at the baby, Kyle, and eating Yvette's left over hospital food. Not Lauren, couldn't be Lauren who had filled out her first year at High school diary with entries of how many days to go for the baby to arrive. And not Lauren who she had waved off the previous night clutching her school bag.
Looking back I can still remember the strange look on Yvette's face as she asked if Bob and I had known the fact that a girls body had been found at Noble Park Pool. Yvette was wary of her Dad. They had several run ins over the years, not least the one that she was pregnant at 17 and bob hated the father of the child, Simon, who was just 16. Yvette's baby boy was just two weeks old and to say that Yvette went into meltdown after Lauren's death, would be the understatement of the decade. But she had seen the Bali Top lauren wore, held up by the Police for the midday news cameras and the bikini bottoms. Yvette also knew, just knew, but would not believe it. Things like this did not happen to us, not ordinary people like us.
