The mother of a West Malling teacher says she is 'overwhelmed' by support from the public, after the appeal she has launched has reached more than half its target.

Alison Patterson, from West Malling, is hoping to raise £30,000 to pay legal fees and allow her to fly to Qatar for the retrial of the man who was found guilty of murdering her daughter Lauren.

Since the launch on Friday, she has already raised more than £18,000 through donations to her Go Fund Me page.

VIDEO: Alison Patterson is seeking to raise £30,000. Josie Hannett reports.

Mrs Patterson, said: "It's an amazing feeling. I'm quite overwhelmed.

"I've had messages from Australia, New Zealand, everywhere. It's fantastic! It's so nice to know that everyone is behind me. It's an amazing feeling and I want to say thanks to everyone who has donated."

The body of Lauren Patterson, whose family home is in Leybourne Chase, was found burned beyond recognition in a pit in the Doha desert in 2013. A knife was still lodged in her rib cage.

Badr Hashim Khamis Abdallah al-Jabr was found guilty of her murder the following March and sentenced to death, despite maintaining Lauren had died accidentally.

Mohamed Abdallah Hassan Abdul Aziz was sentenced to three years for helping the killer.

But in February following years of court battles al-Jabr's conviction was thrown out and he was granted a retrial which will be held on Sunday, March 27.

Mrs Patterson said Lauren, who was 24 at the time of her death, travelled to Qatar a few years after her father died in 2008 and made it her home.

She added: "I visited Lauren in the May and left her a very happy young woman who had decided to extend her English teaching contract another year. Sadly my mother passed away suddenly in the October, so Lauren came home for her Grandmother’s funeral and that was the last time my family and friends ever saw Lauren alive.

"When Lauren left to go back to Qatar, I remember hugging her outside the house and telling her I loved her and I would be fine. I said I missed her, but I looked forward to seeing her at Christmas at home. As always, we texted over the day and I said 'let me know when you arrive back in Doha safely.' I never heard from Lauren ever again."

Lauren disappeared after a night out.

Mrs Patterson said: "On the Saturday afternoon the call I'll never forget came through, it’s every mother’s worse nightmare as they told me a body had been found but they weren't sure if it was Lauren as she had been put into a pit in the desert and burned beyond recognition.

"I travelled to Qatar the next morning and for the next four weeks I stayed in Doha trying desperately to get my daughter's body flown home as my DNA was needed to give a match to enable Lauren to return home.

"Not only was my daughter murdered in a foreign country, but I was unable identify her because what was left weighed only 7.5kg.

"All that was left was part of her head and neck, her upper jaw and teeth with her brace still intact, part of the chest with the knife still embedded (she was stabbed before being moved to the desert to be burnt).

"Her feet were the only part of her body left intact as they had been over the edge of the fire pit and her red nail polish that she loved was still visible."

Since Lauren's death Mrs Patterson has travelled to the emirate more than a dozen times to attend court hearings.

In a the post on Facebook she said she needed people's help to raise awareness of Lauren's case and to travel to the Middle East once more.

She said: "I need your help. I am one woman, a small voice against a judicial system I don't understand. With many voices maybe justice will prevail.

"I am also asking for people to donate, I have no money left to continually travel to Qatar to help fight the new court case."

To donate click here.