Suzanne Pilley dreamt of having a baby

David Gilroy, a man she once dreamt of spending her life with, would deny her the chance of happiness with anyone else.

Her friends tell how her romantic life had always been complex, usually leading to partners who brought their share of baggage despite her bubbly and outgoing personality.

But there had been a change in her as she finally decided to move on from Gilroy. She had found a flat in Whitson Road she was settled in and believed she could go far in her bookkeeping job with Infrastructure Managers Ltd.

The only thing missing was what she desperately wanted – a loving partner which whom to have a child. She began to chat online with Mark Brooks, 41, a planning officer with West Lothian Council, she met through the FitnessSingles.com website.

They shared interests in music, particularly trance, and both enjoyed outdoor sports, camping, walking and the sea. He appreciated her love of the arts and festivals.

It seemed she might be ready to move on with her life, and according to her mother, Sylvia: “Suzanne wanted someone to share her life with. She did not want to spend it alone.”

Her family had of course supported her through her relationship trials, and retired shop assistant Sylvia and dad Roberts Pilley, 68, a retired HGV technician, were no doubt standing ready to pick up the pieces.

A marriage to long-time friend Peter Durrand, whom she wed on a trip to Las Vegas, fizzled out after only a few years despite a long courtship.Another relationship with a Moroccan called Omar she met while travelling in his country following her separation ended because he was too young, while a brief engagement to an Edinburgh man apparently broke up when she discovered his cocaine addiction.

It was the end of April 2009 when she met Gilroy, a man with the promise to change her life, and friends tell of her becoming quickly “besotted”. Tragically, of course, he did change her life. He ended it in the most cruel of ways.