Estranged pair tried to put son first, says friend

Christina Ruscoe said Carmen Thomas was a 'strong-willed woman' who could often polarise people. Photo / Supplied

A close friend of Carmen Thomas says the young mother and the man accused of killing her had a civil relationship and always tried to put their young son first.

Christina Ruscoe, 22, met Miss Thomas at a Viaduct bar during a night out with friends.

They became good friends over the course of a year and almost ended up living together.

"I did at some stage consider moving in with her and Jack. She wanted someone she felt comfortable with Jack around and I needed a place."

Miss Ruscoe said her friends wanted people to know Carmen was not just "an escort".

"It was something she did, not something she was." Miss Ruscoe said she did what she could to make her life better.

"All the escorting that was all for Jack, the money was for Jack, it was all to give him a better life."

She had met Brad Callaghan a couple of times but really just "knew him as her ex or the father of her child".

"As far as I knew their relationship was civilised and they did what they could for the benefit of Jack."

Callaghan and Ms Thomas met in London where he was working after he graduated from the University of Auckland with an engineering degree.

Miss Ruscoe said Ms Thomas was a "strong-willed woman" who could often polarise people.

"She could get on the wrong side of people, if she didn't like you she had no problem telling you, but she did a lot for the people she did like.

"The whole time I knew Carmen she was an escort. She got out of it a couple of times and then went back to it."

A mutual friend of the former couple described their relationship as volatile and said they had broken up before Ms Thomas discovered she was pregnant while in Britain.

The couple tried to get back together but it didn't work out and Callaghan returned to New Zealand, followed soon after by Ms Thomas and baby Jack.

While the estranged relationship was "amicable" in New Zealand, the couple never reunited. Callaghan was a "devoted dad and Jack always, always came first", said the source.

Meanwhile, friends and family say they are coping all right following news of Callaghan's arrest.

On a Facebook page set up since Ms Thomas vanished, aunt Carol Lavagna said family were "as well as can be".

"Now we just need him to tell us where Carmen is so we can put her to rest," she wrote.

Others said their hearts went out to Jack.

A close friend of Ms Thomas, who worked with her at a Pakuranga escort agency, told the Herald said was thrilled with the arrest.

"Now everybody can kind of relax," she said.

"I'm really relieved that somebody's arrested because we all knew what had happened to her so you've got all that time to [digest].

"I think it will hit more when they find her body and find out what's happened to her."