Missing grandma, 71, last seen ‘trying to get home’ from Manchester Airport on New Year’s Day found dead in woodland

THE family of a gran who vanished on New Year’s Day says she’d been trying to get home before she was found dead in woodland.

Lillian Ferguson, 71, vanished after she was spotted at Manchester Airport just after midnight on January 1.

The gran’s loved ones quickly became worried, asking for the public’s help to find the “heart and soul” of their family.

Lillian’s disappearance sparked a major police operation, with cops desperately trying to find her.

The force said they had become “increasingly concerned” for the 71-year-old as she hadn’t been seen since being spotted on CCTV leaving the airport.

yesterday reported the gran had tragically been found dead, while her family took to social media to share their heartbreak.

Lillian had just arrived into their airport on a flight before she vanished, her family say.

Daughter Suzanne, 40, said her mum must have got lost on her way home from the airport after visiting her sister for Christmas.

The heartbroken woman told : “She’d normally get the tram from the airport as it is the next stop, just a stone’s throw away. Her friend was waiting for her at the stop and they would walk back together.

“My mum has walked back from that airport so many times because we live minutes away. I think she must have thought the trams weren’t running with it being New Year’s Eve.

“She must have taken a wrong turn.”

Suzanne explained her mum seemed to have turned left, rather than right, and ended up on a slip road.

The 40-year-old, who has four siblings, said she didn’t know why Lillian took a different and unfamiliar route that night.

However, she’s convinced her mum, who occasionally suffered from memory lapses, was trying to get home.

Suzanne continued: “She was found in a dangerous wooded area to the side of the motorway.

“She had scrambled through trees and ended up at high fence where there was a secure car park. That’s where she was found.”

Police found the mum’s body the day after she vanished, her family said.

It came after officers asked the public get in touch if they spotted her – saying she was last seen wearing a long brown coat, with UGG boots and Burberry scarf.

Lillian’s daughter yesterday took to Facebook to share the tragic news, writing: “Thank you all for helping in the search for our mother, we found mam and she had tragically passed away.”

Tributes quickly poured in for the 71-year-old.

One woman wrote: “Rest in peace, a beautiful woman, taken far too soon.”

Another wrote: “Going to miss her so much, love too you all.”

The Sun has approached Greater Manchester Police for further comment.