British police no longer want to question Lilia Fenech, whose husband was charged with the murder of his former wife, but the 23-year-old says her life has been ruined by the press exposure.
The 23-year-old is back in Malta after her bail was dropped. Her German husband, Peter Wallner, is still in custody awaiting a hearing at London's Old Bailey next month.
Answering her father's mobile phone, Ms Fenech said: "You have ruined my life", referring to media reports about the case which also made British headlines after Melanie Wallner's badly decomposed remains were discovered in a wheelie-bin in Surrey early in June.
"You ruined my life, from A to Z. Both mine and my husband's. I cannot even go outside without people looking at me. Do you know what it means when people give you those looks?"
Ms Fenech insisted that both she and Mr Wallner had nothing to do with the case. "I have always told you so. I do not lie." Both Ms Fenech and her father, Martin, had denied that either she or the 33-year-old Mr Wallner were involved in the murder.
A spokesman for the Surrey police yesterday told The Times that Ms Fenech's bail had been dropped and she was free to leave the UK. The conditions of her bail prevented her from leaving Britain but Ms Fenech said she had been in Malta "for a long time".
The police spokesman was unable to say when bail was dropped but Ms Fenech said this happened a long time ago. When pressed, she said she must have been in Malta for some two months.
She insisted that she had never been arrested, although she confirmed that she was questioned by the police. "There's a big difference," she said.
British media had reported that the young woman was arrested on landing at London's Gatwick Airport on June 17.
She was questioned and released on bail with no charges brought against her. She had been due to answer bail on Monday but it was dropped before that date.
"I am trying to put back the pieces of my life," she said. Asked whether she was going for her husband's hearing next month, Ms Fenech said that was her business.
"No matter what, he remains my husband," she said.
The couple had returned to Malta soon before the body was found outside their former residence in Hamilton Avenue, Cobham. The van in which the couple are believed to have driven to the island was found parked in San Ġwann the day after the gruesome discovery.