Killing of ‘louder than life’ mum that shocked community
IT was a gruesome discovery which shocked a community.
A member of the public had found what they suspected were human remains in Reddish Vale country park in Stockport.
“It’s madness,” a nearby resident said. “You don’t expect this on your own doorstep.”
The police report came in about 10.30am on Monday, May 25, as the country continued to observe the first national coronavirus lockdown.
Forensics officers rushed to the scene and sealed off the beauty spot. Rumours soon began to spread on social media, and a small number of residents gathered at the police tape at the entrance, desperate for any information about what had happened on their doorstep.
Over the next few hours and late into the night, with the glow of floodlights illuminating the park, officers painstakingly searched the area. By the next morning they’d discovered several other body parts.
In the early hours, Greater Manchester Police confirmed what everyone had feared.
The remains had been established as being those of a woman in her 40s. A 48-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Det Supt Neil Jones, of GMP’s Major Incident Team described the killing as ‘absolutely devastating’.
Two days later the victim was identified as mum and grandma Yvonne McCann, a carer who lived just a few streets away in Brinnington. The man who had been arrested was her husband Thomas McCann. Now, months later, McCann has admitted murdering his wife.
In a heartbreaking tribute released following her death, Ms McCann’s children paid tribute to their ‘louder than life’ mum.
They said: “If anyone was to be asked to describe our mum in one word, funny, loud, caring, loving are just a few. There was never a quiet moment in our house, we knew we were loved unconditionally, and she taught us to stick up for ourselves, but also to be kind and to treat people right.
“She was our world and we were hers, we have lost the heart of our family. Mum was the bond that kept us all together, and we feel numb and broken without her.”