NINE years on from the horrific killing of his daughter Maria, Ron Phillips tells STUART ARNOLD he believes families like his will never find justice.

HER killing shocked even hardened police detectives who were confronted by what was described as a "dreadful scene".

Maria Jones, a pretty young hairdresser and mother to three young boys, was stabbed up to 96 times by her policeman husband in the bedroom of the comfortable detached house they shared in Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton.

PC Graham "Ivor" Jones, then a serving Cleveland police officer, was later convicted of the killing, which happened in December 2004.

He was jailed for eight years, but served just over five, being released from prison in 2009.

Maria Jones' death thrust her father Ron into the sometimes uncomfortable media spotlight at a time when the family were battling to come to terms with their grief.

Several years on the pain may have eased, but the scars haven't gone away.

Sitting in the conservatory of his home in nearby Hemlington, the 68-year-old recalls how he and wife June struggled to cope at first.

"The first two years were absolutely terrible", he says.

"June's a Catholic and the church has helped her, but she has had some ups and downs.

"I didn't want the family to fall apart and felt it was my responsibility to support her which I did."

I ask Mr Phillips - who describes himself as an agnostic - how he has been able to deal with his daughter's death.

"It is a cruel thing to say, but I had such a rough time being kicked from pillar to post when I was young," he says.

"I didn't know my mother or brother until I was 21 and was brought up by grandparents who were a generation out of step.

"I never lacked anything, but there wasn't much love. I became fairly hardened to a lot of things and it has toughened me up from a family point of view."

After Maria's death Mr Phillips and his wife got involved with the group Support After Murder and Manslaughter (Samm), along with Ann Ming, whose daughter Julie Hogg, from Billingham, was murdered in 1989.

It organises an annual church service at St Mary's Cathedral, in Coulby Newham, Middlesbrough, for families who have lost loved ones in tragic circumstances.

Despite the support he and his wife have received, Mr Phillips says he is worried there is not enough help out there now for families of victims, particularly in an era of funding cuts.

"[National charity] Victim Support tell you what is going on and help you fill in the criminal injury compensation forms, but that's about it," he says.

"You are offered counselling, but I didn't find it very constructive."

Mr Phillips, a former engineer and pub landlord, is an affable character and engaging with it.

He talks openly about his life, career and family matters and has a tendency to frequently shoot off at tangents, picking up a conversation thread and running with it.

He recalls meetings with the likes of "Charlie" Falconer, now Lord Falconer, Labour's former Secretary of State for Justice, and Sara Payne, the mother of Sarah, when he and June would attend conferences at which victims of crime and their families would discuss the issues facing them.

"It was mainly gripes about how there is no justice," he says.

" What it came down to in the end is that we were told it costs too much money to keep people in prison forever and they have to come out eventually."

Mr Phillips has always played an active role in his local community. He stood unsuccessfully for Middlesbrough Borough Council, was vice-chair on Hemlington's community council and is treasurer of the Friends of Hemlington Lake.

"I was already doing these things before and it wasn't to do with Maria," he says. "I have always been involved in what is going on locally, it is something to do.

"When you retire you become nosy old sods."

He admits he can never forgive Ivor Jones and is still angered that he was convicted not of murder, but of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility after pleading guilty to the lesser charge.

"There was evidence of three weeks worth of pre-meditation and the judge picked up on this," he says.

"If he had done this when I was a child, he would have been hung and never considered for manslaughter."

He also draws parallels with other killings involving serving police officers where the perpetrators received much lengthier sentences.

Mr Phillips describes how - prophetically - his wife described Jones as having "evil in his eyes" after Maria first introduced him to the family.

"June did not like the look of him and said there was something nasty about him," he says.

He has previously joined other campaigners in calling for tougher sentences for violent offenders and talks about how it is wrong that some criminals are given new identities in order to enable them to settle back into the community upon their release from jail .

"A lot of families who are affected in the way we have been are unhappy with the criminal justice system", he says.

"However until every MP suffers a murder in their family or some other similarly tragic event I believe we will never see any change."

Turning back to Maria, he says he and his wife observe her birthday - she would have been 45 this year - and each anniversary of her death.

"We've spent a fortune lighting up candles in the house and all over the world in memory of Maria," he says.

"In the meantime you just carry on. I may be smiling, but deep down there is a lot of sorrow."