By David Jarvis in Thailand

In a tiny village in Thailand, not far from the Cambodian border, Sombat Bigley sits alone in a room full of memories.

"It is my crying place," says Sombat. "It is where I come to be with Ken. The only place I can find peace."

All around her are pictures and objects which remind her of her once happy life with her murdered husband.

The small room has become an oasis of love - a shrine - in an otherwise empty shell of house.

The walls of the 12ft by 10ft space are adorned with pictures of Ken and Sombat together in happier times during their nine years together, seven spent as a happily married couple.

Wedding photos,  snaps of get-togethers with Ken's family in Liverpool, and  pictures of Ken's mother Lilly and his brothers Greg and Phil have been lovingly mounted on the pale blue walls.

On the mantelpiece sits a beautifully ornate 18-inch-tall silver family tree with 12 thumbnail-size photos of herself and Ken hanging from its delicate branches.

By its side is a children's teddy bear gifted to Sombat by Lilly at Ken's memorial service at Liverpool Cathedral.

"I call it Hope," says Sombat, "because deep down I still hope I will see Ken again."

Sombat has opened her house to Newsmonster for the first time to show the world her love for her late husband and to appeal to the authorities to find his body.

"This is my private place where I come and think about my husband. I talk to him whenever I am here and often I cry myself to sleep.

"I miss him every day. Ken and I loved each other very, very much. We both found happiness together.

"Ken started building this house seven years ago. But of course he never finished it. We were going to spend the rest of our lives here."

The timber home is situated on a dirt track in the remote village of Suratavorn in Surin Province - where Sombat was born.

Her mother Joo, 62, and her father Lip, 70, who is now virtually blind, still live here among the 100 or so inhabitants. Water buffalo graze in the rice fields and cows meander down the roads.

"Ken loved this place," recalls Sombat, standing next to the traditional bright green, red and gold spirit house in the garden, "and my family and the villagers loved him.

"He bought the village a tractor and did many things to help my friends. He was a good man. I used to say I was lucky to meet him, but he always used to say he was lucky to have found me. We were very much in love."

Ken's room - which Sombat has never before opened to the outside world - is ample testament to that.

She shows a happy smiling photo of the two of them together in the Thai resort of Phuket. On the reverse of the photo is written simply: "All my love. Forever, Ken," followed by a string of kisses.

But above the mantelpiece hangs a more distressing image.

It is a five-foot by four-foot montage of pictures and newspaper stories which were beamed across the world when engineer Ken was beheaded by al Qaida terrorists in October 2004 while working in Iraq.

Sitting at the centre is the unforgettable picture of Ken staring out from the inside of a metal cage, chained and in an orange jump suit.

It is the picture that dominated our TV screens for the 22 days Ken was held hostage.

"It is right that it is here," says Sombat. "I do not like to remember him that way and I cry when I look at it. But it was his story and now it is my story."

On either side of this tragic centre piece, which dominates the room, are two vertical wooden cabinets with Ken's belongings carefully placed on shelves.

There are two pairs of his shoes, positioned as if in a shop window, a shelf containing 15 of Ken's watches - "he was always on time" says Sombat - and a collection of 250 CDs with his favourites -Rod Stewart, Billy Joel and Ray Charles - carefully lined up and dusted.

Next to his CDs are Ken's diaries containing entries and reminders of mundane daily tasks and events. All perfectly positioned.

By the side of one cabinet is a picture of a sail boat named Gloria on Liverpool waterfront.

"Ken dreamed of owning a boat one day," says Sombat.

The room is carpeted with a beautifully patterned cream-coloured Persian rug. A small two-seater brown sofa and matching chair and pretty bright orange curtains hang from the windows.

Ken's sound system sits in a corner and there are little trinkets, a key ring here, a business card there, all kept clean and dust free. The room is a perfectly preserved time capsule - a mini museum to a man no longer with us. A wardrobe still contains his clothes.

Yet the rest of the house is empty and undecorated with the feel of a house only half built. The walls are unpainted and there is no furniture. It is stark reminder of the fact that Sombat has fallen on hard times since Ken's death because of red tape and delays in winding up his estate.

She cannot afford to finish decorating and recently was forced to sell her £1000 engagement ring for just £73 to buy food.

She has scraped a living planting rice in paddy fields and is trying to raise enough money start a small business selling soup or flowers in the Thai capital of Bangkok with her sister Suni, because there is no work in her home village.

Ken's family in Liverpool have sent her money to help but Sombat knows she cannot rely on them forever.

"They have been very good to me but what is most important to me is that they love me and think about me.

"I want to ask Tony Blair and the authorities to try to find Ken's body. Until they do a part of me will always live in hope that one day he will come home.

"Last month (April) there were reports that a terrorist claimed Ken was buried near Fallujah in Iraq, but I've heard nothing since.

"When the authorities finally settle things maybe I will finish the house, but whatever happens I will always keep it, even if it is only Ken's room that I can afford to keep nice."  

Sombat was rescued from poverty when Ken's will was finally settled last year.

She had been forced to pawn her engagement ring and sell soup on the streets of Bangkok to make ends meet.

But wrangles over the Liverpudlian's estate were finally settled in July last year after pressure from the Foreign Office and Ken's family.

Sombat, Ken's wife of seven years, has received a £14,100 payout.

Ken's mother Lil and his son Greg have also received £14,100 shares after Ken's £42,300 estate was split three ways.

Sombat said: "It has taken a long time but finally everything has been agreed.

"This will not make me rich but it will help me buy a small plot of land to grow flowers and sell them.

"It is such a worry off my shoulders that I can take care of myself.

"But the money won't bring Ken back."

Engineer Ken, 62, was beheaded in Iraq in October 2004 after being kidnapped by terror lord Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. His body has never been found.

Sombat, who was comforted by Tony and Cherie Blair at Ken's memorial service in Liverpool, fell on hard times because of delays in winding up his estate.

In April (2006) how she pawned her £1000 engagement ring for just £73 to buy food.

And we highlighted how she sold soup at 15p a bowl to get by.

In May (2006) the Bigley family gave her £1,000 to save her from starvation after The People revealed her plight.

Sombat, who believes she is visited by Ken's spirit, wept tears of relief as she received the cash lifeline from her dead husband's brother Phil.

The Foreign office had also been trying to help her and has been wading through red tape to settle his estate. But Sombat's dead husband's bank in Abu Dhabi had been dragging its heels as did the Iraqi authorities over his death certificate.

Finally, in July 2006, almost two years after Ken was kidnapped in Iraq, the hard work paid off.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "The good thing is that this has finally been settled but the bad thing is that it took so long.

"When someone dies and there is no body and the death takes place in a foreign country it is difficult to issue a death certificate. In that situation there are complicated processes that need to be gone through.

"Also there was an old will which wouldn't have reflected Mr Bigley's wishes when he died and under those circumstances it has to be settled according to a presumption of his wishes.

"There was no question of this money not going to Sombat it was just a question of going through the formalities in order to get it to her. I'm pleased to say that has now happened."

When he was kidnapped Sombat and Ken had been building their dream house in rural Thailand where he planned to retire.

Sombat says she feels his ghost comforting her in a room in the house containing his possessions.

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