Family speak of 'unbearable loss' as woman's abuser is jailed after she was found dead in a Spalding churchyard

The family of a woman who was found dead in a Spalding churchyard have spoken of their ‘unbearable loss’ after her abuser was jailed.

Colette Law (26) died on a summer's night in July last year. Her body lay undiscovered in a tent in the grounds of St Mary and St Nicolas Church in Spalding for a week until she was found on 17 July.

A post mortem was unable to reveal the cause of Colette’s death.

Paul Neilson, 30, of no fixed address, persistently told people that she had gone back to Scotland, but he later admitted knowing that she had died in that tent and deliberately failed to alert any authorities.

Police labelled him as a ‘domestic abuse perpetrator’ after uncovering the fact he had assaulted Colette in the days before her death.

This week Neilson was jailed for four years and eight months after admitting one charge of assault by beating, two charges of actual bodily harm, and one charge or perverting the course of justice.

‘Our lives will never be the same again’

Following the sentencing, Colette’s family paid tribute to her.

In a statement they 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.

“When we had Colette we thought she would be a boy, but when she arrived we were overjoyed.

“Colette was happy and outgoing, her laugh was infectious, you couldn’t help but laugh with her, even if you had no idea what she was laughing at.

“Colette always loved her purple hair, her favourite colour was purple. She loved to sing and do karaoke. She was funny, she was the life and soul of the family . She would sing her songs and dance.

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

“We spent so much time together, she always came on holiday to Portugal with us, she was our sidekick on work nights out and long weekends away with friends.

“Colette has left us with lots of amazing memories, ones we will never forget. Even something as simple as making the gravy reminds us of her, she would always have to make it for us to avoid the lumps of her mum’s gravy making. We are sure that the gravy at Christmas would have not been up to Colette’s standard but it is yet another memory that we hold dear.

“Her amazing TikTok videos (Colette's TikTok video) still make us smile and laugh, and although we can’t be with Colette she is still with us every day.

‘She will live in our memories forever’

“Everyone in Greenock loved Colette, the community all knew her. Everyone misses her and has supported us through all of this. They all miss her. She made a huge impression on everyone she met and the Spalding community have been a great comfort throughout this, with the care and kindness that they gave Colette in the three months she lived there.

“Even when she was miles away we were in contact all the time, so many times a day, we always spoke even when she’d not got her own phone she would find a way to speak with us.

“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.

“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.”