THE mother of a missing Woodford Green schoolgirl has denied killing her, as the girl’s father stands trial for murder.

Tulay Goren, 15, has not been seen since she went missing from her home in Glastonbury Avenue in January 1999.

Her father Mehmet Goren, along with two of her uncles, has been charged with her murder but, at the Old Bailey on Monday, defence barrister Michael Turner accused Tulay’s mother Hanim Goren of involvement, suggesting she was angry over Tulay’s relationship with a 30-year-old man.

Speaking through a translator, Mrs Goren said: “As a mother I was angry, I was upset, but I did not kill her. I did not kill.”

The court has heard that the Woodford High School pupil was the victim of an “honour killing” after she started seeing Hilal Unal, who was from a different Muslim sect.

Mrs Goren told the court last week that she found Tulay tied up and face down in her bedroom the day before she went missing.

She said that when her husband appeared in the room he had said: “Don’t untie, don’t touch,” and told her that he had tied her up to stop her running away. He had also laced Tulay’s coffee with sleeping pills.

Mr Turner said: “You have a tendency to blame your husband for things you did, do you not?”

Mrs Goren agreed that she had been angry over the relationship but said that it was her husband who had confronted Tulay.

She said that the last time she saw Tulay was before her husband sent her and her other daughter, Hatice, 13, out of the house on the day Tulay disappeared.

Mr Turner suggested that Mrs Goren’s husband sent her away because she was so angry with her daughter.

She replied: “Mehmet sent me knowing things. It was nothing to do with anger towards Tulay. Mehmet did it. Mehmet killed Tulay.”

Hatice later died in a car crash and Mrs Goren told the court that she wanted “just a piece of bone” from Tulay so she could bury it alongside her other daughter.

Mehmet Goren, of Navestock Crescent in Woodford Green, Cuma Goren, of Evesham Avenue in Walthamstow, and Ali Goren, of Brettenham Road, in Walthamstow, deny all charges.

The trial continues.