THE mothers of two of the Newlove murderers have defended their "decent" sons.

Margaret Sorton and Sue Swellings spoke out and said their sons were not as bad as they were being made out to be.

"My family know what he is like, my friends know what he is like and I know what he is like. That is good enough for me - and anyone else can think what they want. I am just trying to lead a normal life as best I can now," Margaret said.

"We wish it had never happened, it's just a thing which went tragically wrong.

"But this has destroyed my life. I haven't got my son at home because of this," she said.

Swellings' mum Sue said that she would be using Legal Aid to employ the best lawyer possible to represent her son during an appeal.

"I still love Adam because he is mine and nothing will ever change that," she said.

"I have spoken to him from jail and he is doing fine."

Yesterday it emerged that Swellings has boasted to his fellow inmates that Garry Newlove "deserved everything he got".

Another inmate told how the 19-year-old, from Crewe, said he was proud of what he had done and said Mr Newlove should have shown him and his gang "more respect".

The paper reported that Swellings is being held on a special wing of Altcourse prison, Merseyside, to protect him from attacks from other prisoners.