THE FAMILY of a woman murdered by her ex-partner have labelled his prison letters “sickening”.

Michael Kelly donned a horror mask and used an axe to kill former lover Sally Cox and her 22-year-old son Martin Faulkner at their home in Banbury.

Yesterday, letters and doodles made by Kelly in prison appeared in a national newspaper, sparking a furious reaction from Miss Cox’s family.

Her sister-in-law Yvonne Molson was with Miss Cox’s parents when she told the Oxford Mail: “It has left the whole family devastated, we wish it would all stop. Every time you think you can take one step forward and smile for a day something like this pops up and you go 10 steps back.”

One of the letters, seemingly to Miss Cox and dated February 10, 2011, reads: “Good morning, my darling. I hope you and Martin are being well looked after up there!

“They had better, otherwise they’ll have me to answer to.

“Joe Public haven’t the faintest clue about the real us. If they did, their hearts would have melted. I know that when we parted, all the angels in heaven wept unashamedly, much as they did the morning that you and Martin joined them up there. And me, I am still crying because of this.”

Kelly, then 46, was jailed for at least 30 years in April after admitting carrying out the two murders in Mold Crescent on December 13, 2010.

Miss Molson, who said she was upset that Kelly’s letters were given to a national newspaper, said the only news the family want to hear about him was his death.

She added: “He’s not sorry, he’s only sorry he’s in prison. The way he starts off (the letter), it’s just sickening. He talks as if it wasn’t him.

“Martin and Sally would be here today about to celebrate the first birthday of my son if it wasn’t for him.”