'I miss him every single day': Wolverhampton widow's heartbreaking story on Germanwings anniversary

Martyn, her husband of 25 years and father of their children Jade and Nathan, was taken from her in the cruellest of ways.

The 55-year-old was on the doomed Germanwings flight travelling from Barcelona to Dusseldorf when co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked the pilot out of the cockpit and plunged the 150 people on board into the French Alps.

On the first anniversary of an event that shocked the world, Sharon has today returned to the scene of her husband's death.

"It's a beautiful place," she said.

"We first went over in October. I've been there three times. It's surreal, it's a very calming place.

"When we went, there was a beautiful blue sky, sheep on the hills and you could see the cows and hear cow bells.

"It's almost as if he's there, saying 'don't worry Shaz, I'm alright, everything's okay'. But it's not okay, is it?

"It should never have happened."

For Martyn, 55, who worked as a senior quality control manager for HUF UK, based in Tipton, flying in Europe was the norm, and Sharon had waved him off on many a trip and welcomed him home on his safe return.

What happened next was beyond Sharon's worst nightmares.

"He was getting ready to fly out. He used to fly all the time," she said.

"I was busy upstairs, doing something and he said he had to go or he'd be late. I said I'd see him Tuesday, and that was the last time I saw him."

She added: "It was a Tuesday, it was cold. I remember it was hailing, it was really coming down.

"I looked at the time, it was 12.58. I had a call to tell me there was a problem. I didn't believe it.

"It was only when my brother told me in the aftermath. He said: 'I'm ever so sorry sister, but he was on the plane.'

"Nobody came to see us, no officials, nothing.

"We were left on our own, listening to it on the telly, not knowing what to do.

"It said that the families had been notified in the media. We hadn't been notified."

After raising their children together and seeing them through university, this was supposed to be time for the couple to relax and enjoy a bit more time for themselves.

The pair were getting ready to fly out to Barcelona the following week for a romantic holiday, and had planned it down to the finest details, including which restaurant they were going to eat at and where.

Sharon said: "We had just celebrated 25 years of marriage in October 2014. We had such a fantastic time. He had seen Pompeii which was something he really wanted to do, and we'd been to the Colosseum. We just had a great time together. Just like when we first met.

"When you have kids, they kind of engulf everything, as much as I love them. This was our time, the kids were through university and now it was time for us. And it's been taken from us."

She added: "There is a big hole in our family now. He was just a genuine guy.

"I just want it all to be a dream, I wasn't ready for this.

"It's like he's just vanished.

"For us as a family to try and carry on, it's going to be so hard.

"I just miss him so much. It's just a waste of a life."

So many questions remain unanswered for Sharon. How did he feel? Would they have known what was happening?

The shock of losing Martyn, and the whirlwind of media attention that followed, has sent Sharon into what she describes as a robot-like state as she tries to get through the days and fight for justice for him.

She said: "It's like the TV show Humans. I'm dead. I'm like a robot. You're just functioning. I have to function.

"We've just been thrown into this massive event that nobody will ever understand.

"It's affected a lot of people in Wolverhampton, because it effects us and our family, friends, work colleagues and people they know, and it continues.

"You never think it's going to happen to someone you know.

"I want to know how he felt.

"They kept saying that they wouldn't properly have known what was going on. But would they?"

Her trip to the French Alps will give her another opportunity to speak with other victims' families, including those of other Britons who were killed – Paul Bramley, a 28-year-old from Hull who was studying hospitality and hotel management at Cesar Ritz College in Lucerne and was about to start an internship, and seven-month-old Julian Pracz-Bandres, from Manchester, who had been travelling with his mother, Spanish-born Marina Bandres Lopez-Belio, 37.

The families are trying to support each other after suffering devastating consequences barely fathomable to the rest of us.

"I've just started getting in touch with the other families a bit more. I call us the three musketeers," she said.

"In Germany and Spain they have big support groups, but because there's only the three families, we're more on our own here.

"It is good to speak to them, because you tell people how you feel but they don't really understand.

"But the other victims' families know what I mean so I don't feel like I'm the only one going bonkers."

Precious memories of Martyn are now all Sharon has as she tries to carry on with life after his tragic death.

She said: "He was really family orientated. He loved his kids with a passion. People always say to me now, his friends, that they look up to Martyn for how good a dad he was. He would do anything for them.

"He loved the Wolves as well. He was just an easy going, kind type of fella.

"I just want change. They made 11 recommendations on that report. I hope they do something about it and follow them.

"I would always look after him. If this is the only way I can do it now then that's it, that's what I will do.

"I miss him every single day."

She also wished to say a special thank you to Wolves, Martyn's other true love, who have offered support in the family's time of need.

"They have been amazing. Jez Moxey has been very kind, and so has Paul Richards.

"Even if it's just a quick text to ask how I'm doing or to say come and have a coffee, they have been really good.

"They've really looked out for us and I think Martyn would be so proud of that.

"He loved his football, he was a season ticket holder, it was his passion.

"I hated football. You wouldn't think a football club would support someone like that.

"No-one will sit in his seat at Wolves."

Clutching a treasured photograph of Martyn and a small wooden figurine from Cologne which brings her comfort, she said finally: "Always say goodbye properly. Time is precious."