The family of a woman believed to have been murdered and left in a loft have paid tribute to her. Leah Croucher went missing in 2019, but her remains were found in a house in Milton Keynes earlier this month.
After the discovery, in the loft space of a house in Furzton, police named convicted sex offender Neil Maxwell as their prime suspect. Maxwell was found dead in Milton Keynes just two months after Leah went missing.
In a statement released through Thames Valley Police, her family said: “As a family, we knew this heart-breaking news would come one day. The news that Leah had been taken from us, from this world, forever. We are devastated that we have proven to be correct in this.
“The faint glimmer of hope that we all held allowed us to fool ourselves into believing that our assumption could have been wrong. The deepest, darkest grief that we, Leah’s family and friends are experiencing over the past weeks shows us that glimmer was actually, foolishly, a shining beacon of hope, which has now been brutally extinguished in the cruellest and harshest of ways. It has been a long way to fall back to reality.
“Leah had so much to achieve in her life, milestones that will now never be met. Family holidays, marriage, children, promotion, having her own home. So many ‘could have beens’…
“The void left in our lives after Leah’s disappearance was immense, a pain almost too big to bear. However, there is little that compares to the deep chasm Leah’s death has brought to us.
“Leah was a bright, funny young woman who was a kind, loyal, helpful and caring soul. Her smile lit up the room and her laugh cheered all who heard it. Leah had a wonderful sense of humour, who found joy in everything she did.”
