'Glimmer of hope is brutally extinguished': Leah Croucher's family makes heartbreaking statement after teen's body found
27 October 2022, 14:06 | Updated: 27 October 2022, 15:09
Leah Croucher's family has said the “glimmer” of hope that she may still be alive "has now been brutally extinguished in the cruellest and harshest of ways".
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The 19-year-old's body was found four years after she went missing travelling to work in Milton Keynes.
In an emotional statement, her relatives 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."
They lamented how she had "so much to achieve" and would never experience holidays, marriage, children, promotions or home ownership.
Her remains were found in loft space at a house in Furzton, Milton Keynes.
Police searched the home after a tip off from a member of the public on Monday last week.
Her rucksack and other belongings were found there.
Neil Maxwell was named as the prime suspect. He killed himself in April 2019, two months after Ms Croucher vanished.
He had been sought by officers across the UK for an unrelated alleged sexual assault and was the only person with keys to the property in Loxbeare Drive.
The family statement said: "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.
"Leah was a second dan black belt, a national and European champion in the world of Taekwondo. She enjoyed coaching the next generation of champions at the family club she ran with her dad.
"Leah's presence and warmth impacted on all who knew her, her disappearance has impacted on an entire city and beyond.
"The world and our lives are darker for losing her in the prime of life. Solace is found in the belief that Leah will only finally die when the last of us who remember her dies and Leah will hopefully be remembered by a lot of people for many years to come.
"We will soon be able to lay Leah to rest, as she deserves, and say our final goodbyes, be able to grieve at Leah's graveside and lay flowers for her. We have missed Leah for so long already, and now have the rest of our lives to mourn her as well as the memories we will never be able to make.
"We were able to love you for 19 wonderful years Leah and make amazing memories together as a family, memories that we hope will be sufficient to carry us through the dark and lonely years we have to come.
"We hope soon that we will be able to look at pictures of you again, but they are too painful to even think about at the moment."
Ms Croucher was last seen by her parents at their home at 10pm on February 14 2019.
CCTV showed her walking down Buzzacott Lane, Furzton, at about 8.16am, when she was believed to be walking to work at a finance firm.
A two-week search in a lake at the Blue Lagoon nature reserve in October 2019 yielded nothing, and in February 2021, police said there were no significant leads in the "bewildering and frustrating" case.
But the tip off led them to search the property and finally give her family closure on what happened to her.
