How a community came together following the deaths of the Newman family

Hundreds paid their respects after the family deaths.

Shockwaves were sent through the village and surrounding when new broke about the horrific deaths of Geraldine Newman and her two children, Shannon and Shane at their Beeston Way home in February 2016.

They had been killed by Paul Newman, Geraldine's estranged husband and father to the children. Hours after their death, he took his own life by leaping from a cliff in Anglesey in Wales where he had asked Geraldine to marry him 17 years ago.

In the days after their deaths, mourners gathered on Beeston Way in the Millennium Village and held a three-minute silence.

The community of Allerton Bywater was left devastated by the deaths.

Allerton Bywater parish councillor Lynne Tomlinson said people were struggling to come to terms with what had happened.

“This village is hurting, ” she said at the time.

"We are a small mining community and even though the pit is gone there is still that sense of community here. It’s difficult to comprehend.”

And more than 100 people - including several of Ms Newman’s colleagues at Wilko where she was a store manager - gathered outside the house to pay their respects. Many brought candles to lay outside the front door.

Some parents brought their children along with them - many of whom attended school with Shannon and Shane.