Louise Smith – the ‘happy and smiley’ teenager whose life was mercilessly cut short

The 16-year-old, who had rowed with her mum and moved out in April, reached out to friends and a mental health support line.

She wanted to ‘end everything,’ said one of her messages on the night of May 7-8 this year.

But that snapshot of Louise’s all too brief life did not reveal the true picture.

She was happy and smiley, her mum Rebbecca Cooper said, and was looking forward to one day in the future being a mother.

The aspiring veterinary nurse would be willing to ‘help anyone’ and loved ‘animals and children,’ a friend said.

‘She had fun, she laughed, her life was not all bleak by any means,’ said Mrs Justice Juliet May while sentencing her killer Shane Mays.

Like most teenage girls, she lived her life on her phone, using social media apps Snapchat and Tik Tok.

It was what made it all the more concerning when no-one could reach her on May 8, when Mays brutally cut short her life. She had been due to celebrate turning 17 in August.

Jurors heard 5ft Louise could be rebellious, she smoked cannabis and wanted to often see her boyfriend – just as many teenagers do.

She had a social worker, who she could contact but did not the day before her death.

SEE ALSO: Police spent 8,000 hours looking for Louise Smith in woods – but Mays always knew where body was

The teenager had messages many friends on May 7 asking to go to their house, or if they could come to stay with her in Ringwood House.

But the Havant and South Downs College student did not have a stable home to return to each day, and was in CJ and Mays’ care following arguments with her mum and another aunt.

She was a teenager who, the judge said, ‘required especial care and sensitivity’ from any carer.

Instead she had a volatile life that was brutally ended by a man who she at one point wanted to call dad.

Her merciless death shocked the wider area and in particular Leigh Park, a community praised in the trial for rallying to support police and her family.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Portsmouth news online - as well as fewer adverts, access to our digital edition and mobile app.

Our trial offer starts at just £2 a month for the first two months.