The parents of a ‘happy and outgoing’ woman found deceased in a tent shared how they still watch her TikTok videos for comfort after her boyfriend who beat her is jailed.
Patricia and John have paid an emotional tribute to their daughter, Colette Law, who auditioned for ITV’s X Factor twice and has been described as the ‘life and soul of the family’.
She was found deceased in a tent in the grounds of St Mary and St Nicholas Church, Spalding in Lincolnshire on July 17 last year.
Her parents said they have sought solace from the 26-year-old’s TikTok videos that she posted in the years before her death.
Colette Law’s devastated parents (pictured) say they seek comfort from her TikTok videos
Colette, 26, was found deceased in a tent in the grounds of St Mary and St Nicholas Church, Spalding in Lincolnshire on July 17 last year
Investigators in Major Crime initially charged Paul Neilson, 30, with murder but the charges were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Neilson admitted assault by beating, two counts of actual bodily harm and perverting the course of justice by deliberately failing to alert the authorities when he knew Colette was dead
Colette’s account features videos of her miming to songs and two include her mother.
In a joint statement issued by police, Patricia and John said: ‘Colette Helen Marie Law was our youngest daughter, her loss has been unbearable.
‘Our lives are and never will be the same again, it feels like we have lost a limb. Her older sisters, Jennifer and Patricia miss her so much.’
They added: ‘Her amazing TikTok videos still make us smile and laugh, and although we can’t be with Colette she is still with us every day.
‘The last three years of Colette’s life was not what parents would wish for their daughter. Colette had everything; a roof over her head, good friends and family around her.
‘All she ever wanted was to love and be loved back. She wanted to be a wee mum, have a nice house and now we will never know how she would have turned out because she was never given the chance.’
It comes after Colette’s 30-year-old boyfriend, Paul Neilson, was sentenced to four years and eight months yesterday at Lincoln Crown Court.
He was arrested by police when her body was discovered and admitted to assaulting the singer days before she passed away.
Neilson originally found Colette’s dead body but told friends that she had moved back to her hometown, Greenock, in Inverclyde, Scotland, police discovered.
Investigators in Major Crime initially charged Neilson with murder but the charges were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Colette weighed only six stone and was a talented singer who had previously auditioned for ITV ‘s show, X Factor, twice
Neilson admitted assault by beating, two counts of actual bodily harm and perverting the course of justice by deliberately failing to alert the authorities when he knew Colette was dead.
She weighed only six stone and had moved to Spalding to be with her boyfriend, Neilson, in April last year but struggled to secure accommodation so was sleeping rough.
Before relocating, Colette had completed a nursery nurse course to fulfil her dream of working with children.
Her devastated family said the petite 26-year-old died from a bleed on the brain. They have been left heartbroken over not being able to see Colette and say goodbye because of how badly decomposed her body was found.
The post mortem was unable to confirm the cause of death because of the delay in finding the body after Colette had passed away.
After the sentencing, Detective Inspector Adrian Czajkowski, from Lincolnshire Police, said: ‘As we quickly and thoroughly progressed our investigation, we started to uncover a pattern of assault.
‘He was a domestic abuse perpetrator, very simply.
‘We found that he had assaulted her in the days before her death, as well as perverted the cause of justice, and new charges were filed.
‘This discovery was largely down to the tremendous response by members of the community who came forward with their accounts of witnessing altercations, as well as other intelligence – for that, we want to say a very big thank you.
‘Without their input, we would never have been able to find any level of justice of Colette and her family.
‘And now I must pay tribute to them. They have handled what is the worst thing a family can handle, with dignity and strength.
‘Nothing we or the court system can ever do can bring Colette back, but we can see that the person who brought misery towards the end of her life, and who prevented us and her family from truly understanding what happened to lead to her death, responsible for his actions.
‘I hope that they can now grieve in peace.’
Speaking at the time of her death, Colette’s mother said: ‘We were very close.
Patricia and John have paid an emotional tribute to their daughter, Colette Law, who auditioned for ITV ‘s X Factor twice and has been described as the ‘life and soul of the family’
‘All she ever wanted was cuddles.
‘She was very polite, she would say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.
‘She just wanted to sit in the house and cuddle up and say ‘I love you’.
‘I can’t see her because her body is so badly decomposed.
‘Nobody should be homeless, everyone should have somewhere.
‘The only roof my daughter has got over her head is a coffin.’