The family of a grandma tragically found dead in woodland next to the M56 has paid a touching tribute to the woman who was the ‘heart and soul of the family’.

Lillian Ferguson, 71, had been to visit one of her daughters in County Cork, Ireland, for Christmas and landed back in Manchester on New Year’s Eve.

The grandmother to 25 and mum-of-five was supposed to catch the tram from the airport to her home nearby in Wythenshawe.

Unfortunately, Lillian didn’t make it home that night and didn’t catch the tram. Instead, she was captured on dashcam footage walking onto the M56 slip road at junction five. Her family believe she may have become confused and got lost as she tried to make her way home.

Greater Manchester Police launched a missing persons investigation, making several appeals to help trace Lillian and bring her safely home. She was seen leaving the airport and walking in the direction of the motorway shortly after midnight.

Lillian was a single mum and foster mum to her sister’s children. She moved to England from County Clare in Ireland in the mid 1980s as she embarked on a new life. Her family say she always worked hard to make sure they were always provided for.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Lillian’s daughter Suzanne, 40, also from Wythenshawe, said the family’s loss of an ‘inspirational’ grandma has left a ‘huge void’ in their lives.

Suzanne told the news publication: “She has 25 grandchildren and always had time for all of them, she was amazing. She was inspirational.

“My mum came over here with nothing. When she left Ireland it was just the clothes on our backs. She was also a foster mum; not only did she bring up her five children, but she took in my auntie’s three children when she died.”

She went on: “She was such a remarkable woman and we are all proud to say she was our mum. Even when she went missing she was in Ugg boots and a Burberry scarf, she always looked so glam.

“She had been to visit my other sister for a break over Christmas and was going to be back with us for the new year. 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 turning, if she had carried on forward down the road, she would have been to the Etrop Grange Hotel, but she has turned left and come onto the slip road onto the motorway at junction five.”

The family say they don’t know the reason Lillian took an unfamiliar route home that night but suspect it may have been linked to her epilepsy, which sometimes caused her to experience memory lapses.

They say the headlights from cars or fireworks to mark the New year may have caused her to become confused. 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. We were all so confused because she’s never taken that route before. We still can’t understand how or why she got onto the motorway.

“We were out searching those areas, but we would have never found her in that area. We know she was definitely trying to get back home.

“She had been caught on dashcams on the slip road. So many people shared my mum’s photos and contacted the police with sightings.”

Suzanna thanked the public for helping the police trace her mum. She added: “If it hadn’t have been for them, the people of Manchester, who posted it or reported it, we may have never found her. We are so thankful to those people. We couldn’t have coped with never finding her.

“It has been so amazing to see how highly people thought of her on social media. So many people who I don’t even know are messaging me. If she didn’t know she was loved then, she certainly will do now.”

The family are now waiting on a post mortem to establish the cause of Lillian’s death.