A young mother, cleared of the manslaughter of a Maldon kebab shop owner, has spoken for the first time of her relief at being free and her determination to rebuild her life with her two children.

Serena Kayretli, 23, has returned to the town after successfully appealing against her conviction for the killing of Turkish-born Fevzi Demir - as exclusively revealed by This Is Essex yesterday (Wednesday).

In December 1998, a jury convicted her and her Turkish husband Vedat Kayretli of manslaughter.

The body of Fevzi Demir was discovered encased in concrete behind his High Street kebab shop in April 1997 and the pair were subsequently charged and convicted of his killing.

But now she has walked free from the High Court after her conviction was ruled to be unsafe.

Vedat Kayretli also walked free, despite having not made a separate appeal, because the jury had ruled that it had been a joint venture. He was immediately deported to Turkey.

Mrs Kayretli, who is now divorced, had served two-and-a-half years of a six-year sentence at High Point Prison, Suffolk.

She said: "I came back to Maldon because my children are here and although I had not lived here for long before everything happened I like it, it has a nice feel to it."

Steps are already being taken in working toward allowing her to have her five-year-old daughter and three-year-old son returned to her.

Her son was just six months old when she was remanded to Holloway Prison and she was unable to take him with her.

She hopes regular visits will help establish a bond with him and strengthen the relationship she already has with her daughter.

"We are very close but obviously she is very distressed because she doesn't understand why we cannot live together now."

Mrs Kayretli is planning to apply for compensation for the time she spent in prison but says no amount will replace the time she has missed with her children.

She has maintained her innocence of the killing throughout and says the full truth of what happened to Fevzi Demir will probably never be known.

"I just want to get on with my life now. When I was cleared I was suddenly free and it was incredibly scary. You become institutionalised in a very short space of time."

Despite the harsh regime, she enjoyed working in the prison garden and was a trusted prisoner who was allowed to work outside.

"It was an awful time but I had a lot of good friends who looked after me."

Mrs Kayretli would now like to go to college and study to become a veterinary nurse and plans to rebuild a life with her partner, whom she met while in prison and is due for release in a few months' time.

Fresh start - Serena Kayretli.

Picture: STEVE ARGENT

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.