Brenda Boyd, who was aged six the last night she saw her mother more than 30 years ago, told a coroner's court at Dubbo yesterday her "life changed forever when my mum wasn't there anymore".

Delivering a statement she had written with younger brother Warren, she at times broke into tears before continuing what Coroner Mary Jerram said was "a terrible story".Brenda spoke on the fourth and final day of an inquest into the disappearance of Roxlyn, then aged 31, from Walgett on June 5, 1982.

She said her "most affectionate" mother had always been happy to hear about her day at school and they used to bake cakes together.

Brenda said her favourite memory of her mother was watching the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana together at home. "Mum made me a veil so I could be a princess as well," she said.

She recalled at times her mother and father had argued and that her father had once tipped dinner down her mother's top.

She also told of the immediate loss she felt on June 6, 1982, the day aged six years and nine months she was told her mother had left.

"I remember eating a pie and crying so much I couldn't swallow," she said.

"I didn't understand why."

She said the subsequent marriage of her father, John Bowie, to Anne Bowie - a relationship that started within two months of her mother's disappearance - was violent.

"I remember my father pulling Anne butt-naked through the house," she said.

"I remember pushing my wardrobe against the door of the bedroom so they wouldn't get Warren and I."

She spoke of a significant milestone her mother was not there to share.

"I was 10 when Warren started school," she said.

"I remember getting him ready and walking him to and from his classroom because he was only in Kindy."

She recalled that sometimes when her father and Anne were fighting they would lock the two children out of the house.

"We'd have to sleep in the car," she said.

"We'd ask the neighbours for food.

"We had good neighbours."

Her father had other girlfriends and made other moves - Brenda told the court she had attended 13 schools and Warren had attended 16.

She recalled "Nan and Pop" whom "Warren and I loved dearly".

The couple whose only child was Roxlyn had given them the best memories of this time, taking them to the Royal Easter Show every year and on other excursions, the court heard.

Brenda said she and her brother had both suffered depression.

She said the two of them had had no contact with their father for many years.

Hearing from Roxlyn's friends during the inquest had given them "comfort and reassurance that she was the wonderful mother we remember".

Brenda thanked Detective Inspector Russell Oxford for his investigative work and "for giving Roxy a voice".

She also thanked Coroner Jerram for "letting the witnesses speak so freely" during the inquest.

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