Preston woman pays touching tribute to her murdered dad with plans to display his art in her salon

Natalya May, 32, was forced to halt plans to launch her own hair and makeup academy so she could attend the trial of her father Steven May's killer, and support their family through the trauma.

Darren Smith - Mr May's lodger - was jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years in February, but before the mum-of-two could continue pursuing her plan, the coronavirus crisis struck.

Now, as the hair and makeup academy, on Woodplumpton Road, Ashton-on-Ribble, finally prepares to open its doors, Natalya is hoping it will mark a new phase for herself and her sons Kaedyn, 14, and Hunter, four.

Movingly, her late father's precious artwork will be the centrepiece of the salon.

She explains: " Dad got an O-level when he was 16 for a painting in oils - it looks amazing and it will hang in the pride of place in my studio.

"Dad was a talented artist. He never got to follow his dreams but I'm going to follow mine."

"One of the walls in the salon is graffiti art which I commissioned, which I think he would also approve of.

"I didn't want it to look the same as all the other salons.

She added: " I was setting up my business while all this was going on and then when Dad died, obviously things had to be put on hold.

"But now I want to carry his legacy on because he was an artist and so am I, in my own way

"I want to turn it into something he would be proud of."

Natalya, who lives in Ingol, studied hair and media makeup at Blackpool and the Fylde college, before spending five years at university studying product design and nine years doing mobile make up.

Her studio will create prosthetic makeup such as Halloween cuts and wounds, and the entrepreneur is hoping to launch her own brand of makeup.

The family previously revealed how Steven, who was 50 when he died, had aspired to be an artist before falling into alcoholism.

As he became more vulnerable he was befriended by Darren Taylor, 45, who physically and financially abused him in the run up to his death in May last year.

Taylor moved into Mr May's home in Raven Street 12 weeks before his death, making out he was caring for him, and a pathologist later found Mr May had suffered 76 rib fractures over the same period.

He weighed only 6 1⁄2 stone when he died.

The family hope seeing Steven's incredible art work will remind them of happier times.