THE ex-wife of murder victim Evan Jones has told of the trauma of his death and how it led to a drink driving conviction.

Linda Jones, 45, of Manor Road, Chippenham, said her former husband had just got back in contact with her and their two children before he was killed in March.

He was found beaten to death in the Stokes Croft area of Bristol on March 13. He had been kicked and punched in an attack described by police as vicious and sustained.

Grieving daughters Hannah Barnett, 26, a care worker of Redlands, Chippenham, and sister Naomi Jones, 22, who lives with her mum, sent out an emotional appeal for information about the murder of their father, a former Chippenham rugby player.

"My two daughters feel cheated," said Mrs Jones, a nurse at the Royal United Hospital in Bath.

"They were only just beginning to come into contact with him again and build up some kind of relationship.

"The past months have just been awful like a nightmare."

An appeal for information was broadcast on the BBC television programme, Crimewatch UK, and twice on Crimestoppers.

At North Wiltshire Magistrates Court on Monday, Mrs Jones was fined £240 and ordered to pay £55 costs after pleading guilty to drink-driving on July 10.

She was also banned from driving for 18 months but the ban will be reduced if she completes a rehabilitation programme.

Michelle Hewitt, prosecuting, said Mrs Jones had 56mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood, the legal limit is 35mg. Mrs Jones was arrested following an accident in Pipsmore Road, Chippenham, at 10.50pm on July 10.

"When the police arrived they discovered the defendant's vehicle had collided with a parked car and the defendant was sitting at the wheel," said Ms Hewitt.

Mrs Jones said she had drunk five glasses of wine on the night of July 10, and went to buy another bottle to help her sleep. "Five people had been arrested the night before, in connection with Evan's death," said Mrs Jones.

"I just thought, oh my God, we will have to go through a court case. I just sat at home, crying. I had about five glasses of wine."

The five were later released on police bail pending further inquiries.

Mrs Jones, who also has a seven-year-old son, Joseph Sgrio, from another relationship, said: "There is still so much anger among us the fact that somebody is still walking around, having done this."

She and Mr Jones, 46, met when she was a member of Chippenham Swimming Club, and he was a lifeguard at the old open-air pool in the town.

They married in 1975 at St Bartholomew's Church in Corsham, living in Wood Lane, Chippenham, before divorcing five years later.

Mrs Jones and her husband lost contact, and their children remained living with her.

"We had only just re-established contact in the last two years," she said. "I hadn't seen him but I had spoken to him two weeks before he died."

Mrs Jones said her ex-husband, who grew up in Corsham, worked as a volunteer for the Salvation Army in Bristol, where he had lived for about 15 years. He was attacked shortly after leaving his local pub, The Beaufort.

"I was sad because of the way he died, the fact that he died alone in a street, and the fact that he was lonely," said Mrs Jones.

"Everybody has got a different perspective on him and I would just have to say that he was unique he just did not live a conventional life."

Mrs Jones said she had found comfort through e-mailing former Salvation Army volunteer Aud Doumoling, who had been in a relationship with Mr Jones before moving back to her native France last year. Together the women had helped each other cope with their anguish.

Mrs Jones said the tragedy was compounded by the loss of Mr Jones' brother, John, who lived in Corsham. He died of a heart attack weeks before the murder.

In one of his last acts before he was murdered, Mr Jones scattered his brother's ashes in South Wales, where their family had come from before moving to Corsham.

She said she wants anyone who still has any clues to her ex-husband's murderer to come forward. "Just please go to the police," she said.

dvaller@newswilts.co.uk