THE East Lancashire mother of Oscar Pistorius’s late girlfriend said she is ‘obsessed’ with staring at the athlete at his murder trial.

Model Reeva Steenkamp’s mother June, who was brought up in Blackburn, has endured weeks of graphic testimonies from witnesses, officials and, this week, Pistorius himself.

And speaking to a national newspaper, Mrs Steenkamp said: “It was a big thing for me to go to the trial in the first place and face up to what is going on.

“It’s very traumatic when certain things come up. This is my child - and I must listen to the graphic detail.

“I look at Oscar the whole time to see how he is coping, how he is behaving. I’m obsessed with looking at him.

“It’s just instinctive, I can’t explain it. I keep thinking, ‘let me see how he’s taking this’.

“He has been very dramatic, the vomiting and crying.

“I do look at him too much, maybe. I like to see how he is reacting. I can see him very clearly, even without my glasses - he’s the only one I can see, he’s right in front of me.”

She continued: “I think he’s just about keeping himself together. I don’t know whether he’s acting. Most of the time he’s on his cell phone or looking down at papers or writing notes.”

Mrs Steenkamp had earlier spoken of how she wanted to look the double-amputee in the eye before his trial in South Africa started.

She later criticised him for failing to look at her during the first day.

She said: “He did eventually look at me. My presence unnerves him, I’m sure of it.

“He’s answerable to me. He looked at me and said, ‘Good morning, Mrs Steenkamp’.

“I never answered, I just nodded my head.”

Pistorius shot dead Ms Steenkamp through a closed toilet door of his home in the early hours of February 14, 2013.

Pistorius says he shot her by accident, mistaking her for a dangerous intruder.

The prosecution says he intentionally killed her after an argument.

The trial continues.