THE heartbroken sister of murder victim Katie Summers says she feels like she has let her sister down after losing the custody battle for her children.

Ever since her sister’s murder in October last year, Sarah Summers, aged 22, from Farnworth, has been fighting to get custody of Katie’s sons, aged four and three.

The boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have been in foster care since their mother’s brutal killing at the hands of her ex-partner, Brian Taylor, who was given a life sentence in February.

But the family court has now ruled that Miss Summers will not be allowed to have custody of her nephews and she is now having to live with the second tragedy of losing the two boys.

She said: “I feel like I have let my sister down because I promised her if anything happened to her I would look after the children.

“Unfortunately, I have broken my promise — just like I promised I would protect her from Brian. I feel like I have let her down in a lot of ways.

“There’s no point challenging it now. I’m going to stop for the sake of my nephews. I want to let them get on with their lives in a nice home.”

The court has told her that she will be allowed to write one letter a year to the children and the children will also be able to write to her once a year.

But she is not allowed any other contact until they are 18.

Miss Summers, who has a two-year-old son, Jack, added: “I hate it that my nephews will grow up and I will never get to know how they are doing and how they are.

“I’m worried they are not going to be able to know how much their mother loved them.”

She said she was working on a family history which will be given to the boys so they can learn about their family.

This week the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) criticised police in Bolton for their “total failure” to intervene in the troubled relationship between 24-year-old Katie Summers and Brian Taylor.

The report highlighted a string of failings on the part of Greater Manchester Police, individual officers and staff in their dealings with Miss Summers, who was also known as Katie Boardman.

The report concluded that police failed to identify a pattern of problems after being called 11 times in the 16 months leading to her death.

One officer could face “disciplinary sanctions” as a result of the officer’s “lack of understanding”. Police also failed to arrange for a visit from the police’s Domestic Violence Unit.

Miss Summers was stabbed 82 times on October 9, 2008, by Taylor, with whom she had four children. The two eldest children were taken into care before Miss Summers returned to Bolton from Preston in 2007.

On the day she was murdered, neighbours reported hearing a row. Her body was found after a neighbour dialled 999.

pkeaveny@theboltonnews.co.uk