THE parents of a young Greenock woman who was found dead in a tent in a churchyard have said their lives will ‘never be the same’ after her partner was jailed for assaulting her in the days before her death.

Colette Law’s body was discovered in the ground of St Mary and St Nicholas Church in the Lincolnshire town of Spalding on July 17 last year.

Patricia and John Law released a statement yesterday in which they compared the loss of their youngest child to losing a limb.

They said: “She was the life and soul of the family.

"Every corner we turn she is there. When we are driving in the car with the radio on, we always hear songs that remind us of her.

“She loved to sing and would sing her heart out.

READ MORE: Lies and delay by partner means Greenock woman's cause of death remains a mystery

“There’s not an hour that goes by that doesn’t remind us of Colette - her favourite songs, her favourite things, her videos.”

Speaking to the Telegraph in the days following Colette’s death, Mr and Mrs Law told how their daughter had moved down south in April last year.

She and Neilson were awaiting assistance from the local council to find accommodation and had been living out of a tent in the months leading up to Colette’s death.

Mrs Law told the Telegraph that the family had always had reservations about Neilson, and that they did raise their concerns with Colette.

Greenock Telegraph:

She said: “She was so in love with him. She thought he was the bee's knees.

“We said he wasn’t, but she didn’t understand and she wouldn’t listen to us.

“She went everywhere and did everything with him – 24/7 they were stuck together.

“She didn’t choose to die the way she did. She choose that life, and she chose him, but not to go the way she did.”

READ MORE: Detective praises 'dignity and strength' of Greenock woman's family

Earlier this week at Lincoln Crown Court, Paul Neilson pleaded guilty to three assaults and perverting the course of justice by delaying the discovery of her body.

Neilson, 30, had originally been charged with murder and manslaughter, but the Crown Prosecution Service later dropped these.

The court heard that the delay in finding Colette’s body meant pathologists could not establish the exact cause of death.

Greenock Telegraph:

Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight sentence Neilson to four years and eight months in prison for the offence.

In their statement, Patricia and John said: “The last three years of Colette’s life was not what parents would wish for their daughter.

“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.

“Colette is the first to pass in our family.

“We will never forget Colette, she was our beautiful daughter and best friend and will live on in our memories forever.”