I will never forgive them
Sister calls for probe into Sharon’s care
The younger sister of tragic Sharon Greenop has spoken publicly for the first time after the murder verdict.
Shattered Diane Hogg, 44, wants an official investigation into the last months of her helpless sister’s life.
She tells of 18 months of bottled- up anxiety as she waited for the trial of her killer sister Lynette and her niece Shayla, who was cleared of a murder charge.
Now she wants to know why the care system let Sharon down.
And she insists her side of the family will never speak to freed Shayla, 20, again.
In a powerful letter to her dead sister Diane said: “I wept for what I should have done, I wept for what all the professional bodies should have done, I wept for everyone who knew you, most of all I wept for my dad he has lost everything, two daughters and a granddaughter, a family decimated by an act that could have been prevented.”
Diane insisted she would have been there for anyone who couldn’t cope with caring for Sharon.
“I was and still am my own person you will never take that from me, but you took that from Sharon.”
“I am still looking for answers, Sharon “I’m going to look to find out those answers, someone is accountable, the situation within the household was well documented but someone never looked and accepted the reasons.
“I want an investigation.” Lynette is now serving life in prison and Ayr student Shayla walked free after a jury found her murder charge not proven by the slimmest possible margin.
Diane, a professional carer, has now taken her father into her family home in Dundonald after he could not take living in Muirhead any longer.
In the letter she wrote “I spend a lot of time trying to cope with my own emotions wondering if I will ever feel happy again, can I stay strong for my dad.
“I’m all he has left, the pressure and weight of responsibility is phenomenal
“I just want to disappear, run away, pretend it never happened but it has and it did.”
Diane and her father, Derek, gave evidence for the prosecution at the High Court in Glasgow.
She went on: “I’m proud of my dad he managed to hold himself together and get through the day.
“Whereas the fragility of my emotional state came to the forefront while giving my statement.
“I’m sorry I didn’t stay strong for my dad but the emotion of everything I’ve carried for the last 18 months flooded out and I dissolved into a state that I still carry up to this very day.
“Sharon, I owe you an apology for not sitting through the whole trial, but I wanted to remember you for what you were, a quiet, mild mannered soul who would do anything for anyone, not the shell of a woman who once was my sister.
“I did attend closing statements, I listened to all parties, I wept for you once again Sharon.”
Diane said she was “disappointed” Shayla was not convicted.
And she has turned her back on her niece and insisted: “Shayla will never be involved in my family dynamics or be a grandchild to my father.”
I spend a lot of time wondering if I will ever feel happy again