Brother of murdered backpacker Karen Aim on the stunning paintings that keep her spirit alive

Aug 31 2008 By Grace Macaskill

THEY are the poignant reminders of a life cruelly snatched away.

A series of eye-catching works of art and the touching childhood diary of murdered backpacker Karen Aim have been revealed to the public by her grieving family.

Karen's brother Alan and her dad Brian have spoken for the first time about the inspirations behind her paintings and textiles being exhibited in Orkney along with extracts from her diaries.

A brightly-illustrated book with pictures of Karen's favourite sweets and TV characters may only be the writings of a seven-year-old girl but stand testament to her hopes and dreams.

Extracts tell innocent stories of long summers and of growing up on Orkney before the world outside opened up to her.

The exhibition at the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness includes pictures of her dad's VW Beetle, a car she cherished after watching Herbie as a child, and textiles work including pieces shown at a trade show in London.

Karen, 26, was using the diary as the inspiration for a kids' book before she was killed while travelling around New Zealand in January.

The book about a little island girl was to be titled Peedie Buddo - Orcadian for "small friend".

Alan, 24, said: "Karen often used the island as inspiration for her artwork and the children's book was very much a project she wanted to pursue.

"She was working on it before she left for New Zealand in October last year.

"The whole family has immense pride in Karen and we wanted to share her work with everyone so they could see how talented she was and hopefully get an idea of what a special person she was too."

Karen, who left Dundee University with an honours degree in printed textile in 2003, loved art from an early age.

After graduating, she worked for Marks & Spencer in Dundee and Aberdeen before deciding to go to backpacking.

Karen left Scotland in October 2007 to find a job in Taupo in New Zealand after falling in love with the town during a visit the previous year.

She went for a job as a waitress at the Lava Glass Blowing Studio but boss Christine Robb was so impressed by her artistic flair she asked her to run the centre.

It was a job Karen loved but five weeks later her life was tragically cut short when she was attacked 50 metres from the flat she shared with two backpackers.

Dad Brian said: "Every time Karen came home from the mainland she brought back more and more art.

"Each time she moved around I had to go and get a van to bring all her stuff home.

"Art was very close to Karen's heart which is why we wanted to do this exhibition. We had to go into her bedroom to look out her work and that caused real mixed feelings. I was sad that she had gone but so proud of the work she had achieved.

"Everyone who met Karen loved her. She was so happy-go-lucky and everyone commented on her huge smile and personality.

"One of my favourite memories is two years ago when Karen and her brother organised a surprise 50th birthday for my wife Peggy and I. You should have seen the look on Karen's face. She was thrilled to make us happy and to get away with planning it in secret.

"It's heartbreaking to think she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"The police told us Karen had stopped at a shop to buy a pie on the way home that night. Had she not stopped she would probably still be with us now. But it's all ifs and buts..."

The exhibition has attracted 3000 visitors in the last three weeks. The Aim family also cling on to Karen's happy moments in New Zealand, with videos of her bungee jumping and skydiving.

She is seen grinning happily as she plunges from the edge of a cliff and waving her arms at the camera during her sky dive.

Brian said the family have found it difficult to cope with the realisation that their daughter will never come back.

He said: "It's hard because Karen went away to have a good time but never came back. We are prepared for the trial but then, after a policeman comes to your door and tells you your only daughter has been murdered, you are prepared for anything.

"The first three days were the worst. We were devastated but my wife Peggy said, 'this person has taken Karen down but I will not let him take all four of us down'.

"So we put our heads in the air and decided to get on with it.

"We are overwhelmed by how supportive everyone has been both at home and in New Zealand, in particular the Taupo police chief, the minister and the mayor.

"It has been that support that has enabled us to get this far.

"The ironic thing about all this is that bringing our children up in Orkney we thought they would always be safe.

"We always told Karen that the rest of the world was not as safe as Orkney and warned her about walking late at night out in cities.

"When she went to New Zealand we had no such worries. We had family there and Taupo only has a community of around 20,000 people, the same as Orkney.

"You could never imagine that this would have happened."

A 14-year-old boy has been charged with Karen's murder and will appear in court this week.