THE fiancee of convicted killer Adrian Prout says she "will never give up fighting for the man I love".

In an exclusive interview with The Forester, Debbie Garlick said she and more than 1,000 signatories of a Justice For Adrian Prout petition "know" that the imprisoned 45-year-old is innocent of his missing wife Kate's murder.

"Anyone who has ever met Adrian, in business or in his personal life, has never said a bad word about him," she said. "Everyone is gutted that Adrian has been convicted of a crime he never committed."

Debbie, 45, from Corse, then a divorced mother of two, met Adrian in a Staunton pub a month after Kate's disappearance. The couple began dating in May 2008 and were engaged in June 2009.

She believes Kate, who would now be 58, is alive and in hiding.

"I believe Kate didn't intend to disappear for good, the police scared her into coming back by investigating her murder," said Debbie, who gave birth to Mr Prout's daughter Evie in January, a week before the trial began.

"Kate had disappeared before for two weeks at a time. All we can do is pray that one day she comes back, safe and well."

The last confirmed sighting of Kate Prout was three years ago on Friday – November 5, 2007 – buying groceries in Ledbury.

Her purse, mobile phone, bank cards, diary, clothes and other possessions were found by police in the farmhouse where the Prouts lived in Redmarley, but despite extensive fingertip searches on the farm involving 100 police and mechanical diggers, no body or forensic evidence was found.

In February 2010 Mr Prout was convicted by a jury of Kate's murder, based on her diary accounts of violent rows and threats; that Mr Prout took five days to report her disappearance, only after Kate's brother's insistence; and there appeared to be a motive – an £800,000 divorce settlement proposal.

"We still cannot understand today how the jury found Adrian guilty," said Debbie. "It was a big shock. That day in court will haunt me for the rest of my life. How could they be 100% sure Kate is dead, and if so, why were they so convinced Adrian killed her?"

Kate's family and police are still urging Mr Prout, who was given an 18-year prison sentence, to reveal the location of Kate's body.

DCI Neil Kelly, who headed the investigation, said: "A jury found the evidence presented at Adrian Prout's trial was compelling and sound enough to convict him of Kate's murder – even though her body has never been found.

"Three years after Kate's death, the opportunity remains for Mr Prout to show remorse and bring some small comfort to her family by revealing the whereabouts of her body.

"While he remains silent, police would still like to hear from anyone with information that could explain the fate of her body in the hours and days after her murder."

Debbie, her family and Mr Prout's family, however, are offering a £10,000 reward for information that leads to Mr Prout's acquittal and release.

She said: "The hardest part is that, as an innocent man in prison, Adrian is being denied the chance of being a full-time daddy to Evie. He misses her so much."

Mr Prout was refused permission to take a polygraph test – or lie detector – at Bristol Prison but Debbie hopes he can take it in HMP Garth, near Blackpool, Lancashire, where he was transferred in September.

"Adrian is finding life difficult," she said. "But being innocent keeps him strong and hoping one day that new evidence, such as Kate coming back, will prove his innocence.

"Now Adrian has been moved up north, his daughter Laura, my daughter Jade, Evie and myself have been up to see him. I have visited him three times so far. In Bristol I saw him once a week, but it's harder now he's so far away.

"We all love him so much and miss his presence. We, as a family, suffer thinking about what Adrian is going through, locked up 24 hours a day for a crime he never committed. We are still planning on marrying in the future, but fighting for his innocence is my main priority. I will never give up fighting for the man I love.

"Unless it happens to you, you never believe in miscarriages of justice. It really does happen, and ruins a lot of lives."