'Why did they kill my baby?'

The mother of murdered bank official Pauline Peart today told how she may never know why her "baby" was killed.

Ms Peart was shot as she chatted with a friend in her parked car and wounded so severely that she died before an ambulance arrived.

Her murderers, Morris Miller, 21, and Nebra Bennett, 22, have been jailed for life and will be deported to Jamaica when they have served a minimum of 18 years.

Ms Peart's mother Shirley told the Standard: "I am so pleased we've finally got justice for my daughter.

"Now we can get on with our lives, although I don't know what kind of life we can have.

"They've put my family through a terrible ordeal and brought us so much pain. And they still haven't said why they did it. They just keep telling lies, blaming each other.

"They should tell us what happened and apologise for the pain they have caused us."

Mrs Peart, who now lives in Jamaica because she does not feel safe in London, welcomed the life sentences. "They shouldn't come out while they could harm anyone else. They are lucky because years ago they would have been hanged.

"They tried to say they had young families who needed them but my daughter didn't have a chance to have children. And if they couldn't get jobs over here, how did they think they could support children?"

Miller, of Waltham Cross, and Bennett, of Tottenham, both face deportation after overstaying their six-month visas. While admitting they were at the murder scene, yards from Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, they accused each other of firing the shot. The court was never able to determine why Ms Peart was assassinated in March 2003.

One suggestion had been that the men had aimed at her friend in the car, bouncer Yemmi Johnson, against whom they may have had a grudge. Another theory was that Ms Peart, 25, had shown one of the men "disrespect".

But her mother, who has five surviving children and 10 grandchildren, dismissed the claims, saying she did not think either knew the killers.

"As far as we know they saw the nice car and thought she must have money."

Mrs Peart added: " Sometimes I put myself in her position that night, with a gun in my face. It would have been so frightening.

"My daughter was such a happy, friendly person. She was very hard-working and was just trying to get on with her life."

Mrs Peart, a devout Christian said: "I have to leave it in God's hands. But I can't forgive them yet."

She praised the role of the police. The man who led the murder hunt, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Shrives, said: "Pauline was the first woman to be murdered in London whose death was investigated by Operation Trident and the case shocked the community.

"Our thoughts are with Pauline's family and friends."