Murdered Milly sorely missed by grieving big sister Gemma

"NIGHT night, Gemma, I love you". These are the words that will both haunt and soothe 16-year-old Gemma Dowler for the rest of her life.

They are also words she will never hear again because they were said every night by Gemma's beloved little sister - murdered schoolgirl Milly.

Gemma has revealed her heartache in a harrowing interview, painting a picture of two inseparable sisters whose lives have been torn apart.

The interview was conducted shortly before 13-year-old Milly Dowler's remains were discovered this week near Fleet, Hampshire.

Recalling Milly's loving words, Gemma said: "She'd say that every night before she went to sleep. She said it to Mum and Dad too. She'd say it in case anything happened during the night so that she knew the last thing she'd said was 'I love you'."

Gemma added: "Milly had this teddy that Mum had had made for her. When you squeezed its tummy it said, 'Night, night Milly, I love you'. Mum got all upset when we came across that."

The disappearance and death of Milly has split a relationship so close it saw the pair often share a bedroom, even though each had her own.

The youngsters would talk about boys, school and everything else you would expect from two girls who were friends as much as sisters.

"Milly was really funny and very intelligent - more so than me which could be quite annoying," said Gemma.

"She was with the in-crowd at school. Generally she just took life as it came."

Gemma also spoke of another dream that will now never materialise.

"It was one of our lifelong ambitions to be each other's maid of honour.

"We used to go on the Internet together to look at wedding dresses. It's really sad now. I can't be hers and she can't be mine."

But it is night that brings some of the most vivid memories back for Gemma and provides some of her worst moments.

The youngster had to be given sleeping tablets in the months after her sister vanished because she suffered dreadful nightmares.

"Every time I shut my eyes I could see Milly being stabbed. I also kept getting visions of her stuck in a room with this man trying it on with her and I couldn't do anything about it."

Gemma has also revealed how she feared the worst from the moment Milly had gone missing.

She said she always felt she had been abducted because if there had been any problems she would have known.

On the night Milly vanished Gemma e-mailed friends for any information while her father Bob drove the streets - all to no avail.

"That's when I thought she'd been abducted. I just had this really strong feeling that that was what had happened.

"I was getting very frightened because I was in the house on my own. I thought, 'What if the man who has taken my sister is after me as well? What if he's after our family?'.

"That was the worst night. It was really awful. I remember looking out of the window thinking, 'Come on Milly, come home'.

"I kept thinking, 'This is a nightmare and I'm going to wake up soon'.

"Then I was saying to myself, 'Come on, wake up, this is beyond a joke now'."

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