HE couldn't live with her - and he couldn't live without her.

According to two of Hobson's long-time friends, his relationship with Claire Sanderson was a classic love-hate affair, which exploded nearly every time they drank.

Mother-of-four Angie Roberts, 34, of Hempbridge Close, Selby, said she and her partner, Gwyn Simpson, often invited Mark and Claire to their home for a drink or a barbecue.

Angie, who first met Hobson six years ago while out with friends in Selby town centre, said: "Mark and Claire loved each other to bits. Claire was even talking about having babies with him, but Mark said he didn't want any more kids."

Hobson has an 11-year-old daughter with his ex-wife Kay, and two step-children.

Angie said: "The trouble started when they had been drinking. They would argue and sometimes end up black and blue. It was a love-hate relationship."

"You couldn't wish to meet a nicer couple. Mark was a kind, understanding man who would do anything for anybody, but his downfall was drink. He loved to get hammered and could easily drink 20 pints of lager in one session."

Hobson's dad, Peter, had been working at Walton Colliery, near Wakefield, and decided to move to Selby after miners were promised "a job for life" at the new Selby pit complex.

A rugby league fan, he worked as an overman at Stillingfleet Mine, but died of cancer in 1985.

He was said to be well-respected by his fellow miners, who described him as a gentleman, who did not drink. Before moving to Selby, Hobson was a pupil at Heathview Primary School on the Eastmoor estate in Wakefield, where one fellow pupil described him as a "sweet boy", with a mop of blond hair.

She said: "He was quite angelic and popular with the girls. He was always polite and friendly."

Updated: 13:55 Tuesday, April 19, 2005