The devastated father of eight-year-old Ayesha Ali will never forgive his former wife for falling under the spell of their "evil" next-door neighbour when she should have been keeping their "perfect child" from harm.

Afsar Ali, 35, attended every day of the Old Bailey trial of his ex, Polly Chowdhury, and her alleged lesbian lover Kiki Muddar, who were accused of killing the "intelligent and loving" girl after a shocking campaign of abuse.

The court was told that controlling Muddar turned mother against daughter by pretending to have cancer and creating a host of alter egos on Facebook and text, including spirit guide Skyman and cyber boyfriend Jimmy.

Mr Ali said: "It's completely destroyed my life from now until I die. The reason why I wanted to attend every day was I wanted to relive Ayesha's life, feel the pain. I don't think I can ever imagine what she had to go through.

"No father wants to bury their child. You want your children to live longer than you do. I just wanted to be there for her."

The family first met Muddar when she was their next-door neighbour. Mr Ali recalled: "To me she came across as a very evil person from the outset. She was very sly. She was a control freak.

"This is a lady who just happened to be our neighbour. She had a lot of influence on our family. I guess they were slowly falling into the trap."

Mr Ali, a project manager for an apprenticeship programme for the unemployed, split up with Chowdhury after Muddar moved into the family home against his wishes and slept in his wife's bed.

He only learned details of the women's relationship and their fantasy world of fictional characters through listening to the trial, he said.

On his feelings towards his ex-wife, Mr Ali said: "As a mother, it was your responsibility. I don't care about Skyman or Jimmy or Kiki's cancer - your first priority should have been Ayesha.

"As a mother, she has to live with the pain for the rest of her life, I guess. The child you gave birth to - to take her life away - that is something I can never forgive. There are only two people I blame - that's her and Kiki.

"As a father, my questions always come back to her being a mother and being there to protect. Kiki was an evil witch but she did not have responsibility, maybe as a human, to be caring and protecting - but as a mother, it was Polly's responsibility to ensure no harm came to her."

In an emotional tribute to his daughter, Mr Ali, originally from Newham, east London, said: "Ayesha was an amazing child. Intelligent, loving, caring and passionate about life and world poverty. She loved life and her family and all she wanted was to be part of a happy family. I was her super hero, her super daddy.

"She loved reading, and one of her wishes was to become an English teacher. She was also passionate about world poverty and the suffering of young children around the world. She wanted to become an aid worker and go around the world and support the needy.

"She was a happy child and was loved by everyone - at home, her school and her friends.

"She was a well-mannered child and always had a smile on her face. She was the love of my life and I nearly lost her when she was born premature and was on an incubator for a very long time, fighting for her life.

"She was my angel in disguise. She was a perfect child any parent could wish for. She was a top pupil at her school, she was the head councillor.

"Ayesha was very intelligent and always excelled in her education. I cannot remember a single incident where I had to tell her off for being bad. She was always perfect in everything she did. She never used foul language and always spoke the truth. Like I said, she was my angel in disguise.

"Ayesha loved playing games but was not too into sports. She was very mature for her age, very thoughtful and considerate.

"She would always read bedtime stories to me. Her books meant the world to her - more important than any computer game. She was perfect in everything."