The daughter of a woman who was killed on the first night of a family holiday in the Isle of Man says ‘they will try their best to get through Christmas Day’.

John Meadows, 53, was jailed in October for five years eight months after he admitted to the manslaughter of partner and mum-of-three Jillian Hughes, known as Jill, on Good Friday this year.

This will be the first Christmas the family of Jill will have without her which will be made even more difficult by the fact Jill’s birthday is also on December 25.

Meadows, of Verney Crescent in Allerton, came to the Isle of Man from Liverpool on a weekend break with Jill, her daughter Megan, Megan’s partner James Matthews and their five-year-old daughter on Friday, March 29.

Once the group checked in to their hotel, they went out for a few drinks in the city centre and were in good spirits.

However, Jill and Megan were refused entry to a pub because they had Megan’s young daughter with them. The two men wanted to carry on drinking and an argument ensued.

As they reached outside the Majestic Chinese restaurant on Central Promenade just before 9pm, Meadows punched Mr Matthews and a fight broke out.

As Jill stepped in, Meadows turned to her and said ‘and you as well’ before hitting her in, what one witness described, as a ‘boxer’s punch, quick as lightning’.

Jill fell on her knees and ended up face down on the floor. She was taken to Noble’s Hospital but was announced dead a short time later at 10.28pm.

An inquest held into Jill’s death was held in Liverpool on Monday which concluded she was ‘unlawfully killed’ and Jill’s eldest daughter Chantelle Hughes told the Liverpool Echo that she felt the family received ‘no justice’ and that the festive period would be particularly difficult.

She said: ‘I would never wish this on anyone else for what we have gone through, it’s devastating, and I feel like we’ve had no justice.

‘We’re such a close family. We also got together for Mother’s Day and Christmas Day - which is her birthday - it's going to be a hard time for us. We're going to try our best and we will get through Christmas Day.’

Chantelle says she is struggling to understand why Meadows did what he did and is not sure if he even feels repentance.

‘We feel deflated,’ she said. ‘It’s just the end of it now, we shouldn’t even be in this position.

‘He [Meadows] has just ruined our lives, he has ruined everything. We’re disgusted. Heartbroken.

‘When we saw him in court looking at him maybe he realises he’s done wrong but whether he has got any remorse for it we don’t know.’

‘We have all got a life sentence plus we're watching my mum’s mum and dad go through it and they’re 90 and 81 years of age. I don’t think he realises what he’s done and I don’t think he will ever realise.’

‘Before all of this we used to speak to him, she had been with him for ten years.

‘We just can’t believe this is our situation; our dad’s not in our lives either so we have lost both parents and I’m not even 40. She [Jillian] is missing so much as well, from all her grandkids.

In a moving tribute to her mum, Chantelle said: ‘She was great, she really was. Very outgoing, very bubbly, she had a dry sense of humour, she was great. She loved her job, she thrived for life and after 28 years we thought she had finally found happiness, but she didn’t, she had found worse.

‘She was really great; she adored my nan and grandad and loved the kids. There were only the four of us, we said we were the square, but now we’re the triangle. She had a brother and sister too and loved them, she was so family oriented.’