Mum of tragic Reeva Steenkamp speaks of her childhood in Blackburn

It comes as June Steenkamp’s long-lost friend Chris Mason got in touch with the Lancashire Telegraph after the newspaper revealed she had grown up in the town.

June, 66, spoke fondly of her time in East Lancashire, where she lived with her parents Harold and Irene Marshall.

They lived in Heys Lane until around 1969 before moving to a bungalow in Langho and then eventually to South Africa.

It was then that she lost contact with her best friend from childhood Chris.

June said: “Chris used to come on holiday when I was small with my parents.

“I was an only child so I always got to take someone away.

“She was older than me, I was 10 and she was 12.

“We then went to live in Langho and I went to Shadsworth Secondary Modern.”

The world was stunned when athlete Pistorius, 26, shot Reeva on Valentine’s Day at their home in Pretoria, South Africa, claiming he thought his girlfriend was an intruder.

Chris said she was over the moon to be reunited with her friend, but felt deeply sorry for the pain she was going through.

The 68-year-old, who now lives in Livesey Branch Road, said: “June and I were very good friends.

“I lived up Heys Lane and she lived across the road.

“I went away on holiday with her mum and dad, but then they bought a bungalow in Langho and I lost touch.

“When I saw the story in the Lancashire Telegraph, I stared at the photograph of June and I knew that I knew her.”

The pair attended St Andrew’s CofE Primary School together and Chris said that she could remember June being an excellent dancer.

She said: “June was a very pretty little girl and she was a beautiful ballerina.

“This has all taken me back some years.

“I remember how we used to play together a lot and that we were really good friends when we were little girls.

“I did not have a clue she had gone to South Africa. I wondered why we had lost touch.”

Sprinter Pistorius, nicknamed ‘bladerunner’, is set to stand trial for the murder of model Reeva on August 19.