As my daughters, Ellie, then 19, Layla, 16, and Mya, 13, placed baubles onto the Christmas tree, I watched as they all stood back to admire their handiwork.
It was December 2022 and, just like every year, the girls loved helping me decorate the tree with tinsel and baubles. A single mum, I thought back to all of the Christmases we’d spent together - always with my mum Shirley, then 66, who the girls called Nanny Teabag. And soon, we’d have another member of the family to join us. Ellie was pregnant with my first grandchild, due in early January, and I couldn’t wait. ‘This Christmas will be so special,’ I told the girls.
Then on 20 December I was home alone while the younger girls were with friends. I’d…
