Family pays tribute to Bobbi-Anne McLeod

She "lit up our lives"

As murderer Cody Ackland begins his life sentence after a judge at Plymouth Crown Court warned him he may never be released, the family of his 18-year-old victim Bobbi-Anne McLeod has paid tribute to her.

The describe how Bobbi-Anne was ‘beautiful from the day she was born’ and spoke of her dreams for her life ahead. Bobbi-Anne wanted to become an interior designer.

In a statement, they said: “Bobbi was a beautiful girl who lit up our lives and the lives of everyone she ever met. She was kind, funny, and loyal. She was the best daughter, the best sister, and the best friend to so many people. Everybody who knew Bobbi loved her. We have been robbed of our beautiful girl in the worst possible way and our lives will never be the same without her.

“I want Cody Ackland to know that he has taken away our world. We will never see her beautiful face or hear her laugh, see her get married or have the children she so wanted. So many everyday things have been taken away. Her not being here is still unimaginable.

“Our lives have changed forever. We have not been able to say goodbye to Bobbi-Anne and we can only imagine the things he did to her – the thoughts are continually going around in our minds. Why Bobbi-Anne? Why make her suffer? To know her final hours were spent being tortured destroys us inside.

“Bobbi-Anne was so loved and had so many life plans; he cruelly ripped that life away from her and us. We can’t even contemplate a future without her in it. There will never be anything the justice system can impose that will ever come close to what he deserves.

“We do want to say thank you to everyone. There is no piece of paper, bulletin board, flyer, or anything big enough out there on which we can say thank you.

“The help and support from everyone, not just friends and family but everyone, everywhere, who helped with all of the posters, posts and messages to bring our baby, our Bobbi, home – thank you.

“To everyone in the police, the investigation team and all of the services, we thank you for everything you have done and for finally getting justice for Bobbi-Anne.”