A WOMAN who was born in Newport has been bludgeoned to death in Canada.

Angela Steer, 37, emigrated to Canada in 1975 with her parents Alan and Marie Hood. The family had lived in Medlock Crescent, Bettws.

Mrs Steer disappeared on her way to work in Maple Ridge near Vancouver on April 11.

Her body was found 10 days later by a teenager on the side of a dam in the nearby small town of Mission.

The mother-of-two had been bludgeoned to death. A man she gave a lift to work, William Wade Bicknell, has been charged with her murder.

But her family fear they may never know the truth behind her death. Mrs Steer's uncle is Mr Chris Hood, of Christchurch Road, Newport.

Bicknell, who is 32, has been charged with second degree murder. His trial date has not yet been set.

"Angela was a lovely girl, a real one-off. My brother and his wife are broken people. They will never get over their daughter's death."

Her brothers could not believe she was dead and they demanded to see her body, said her uncle.

"The body had been left in the water for about 10 days. The authorities organised it so that all they saw was a tattoo on her ankle."

Mr Hood and his wife Lynette flew to Canada for the funeral last month. Mrs Steer's father told a local newspaper in Canada: "Someone has taken the life of a wife, mother, daughter, sister, granddaughter, aunt and friend. "She lived life to the fullest."

Mrs Steer married a local man in Canada and the couple had two children, Stephen, now 17, and Rachel, 16. Mrs Steer was born one of twins in Newport but her brother Anthony died soon after birth. Her grandparents, John and Clarice Hood, still live in Newport.