Family still uncovering Emily Drouet's death eight years on

Milligan, then 20, would later be sentenced to 180 hours of community service for assault and threatening behaviour towards the teenager.

Meanwhile, her mother Fiona told The Herald that the family still experience heartache every day as they continue to uncover the scale of domestic violence she experienced.

And she said Emily would "still be alive today" if the teenager's serious concerns about her boyfriend were taken seriously by university staff.

Currently, when a domestic related death occurs in Scotland, no official review takes place - a measure Mrs Drouet has spent the years since Emily's death to change.

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Law reforms are now going through the Scottish Parliament. She said the proposed legislation - the Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews Bill - could save other families the trauma of having to investigate themselves.

"A review like this would have potentially have spared our family immense anguish during the hardest and most painful time of our lives," Mrs Drouet said.

"We knew something had gone desperately wrong for Emily to take her own life as she had experienced significant mental health issues.

"Piecing together the events and identifying the failures on our own felt impossible, and the absence of support from authorities left us feeling abandoned.

"Knowing these reviews existed in England made us feel like we had failed our family for living in Scotland.

"Losing a child is unbearable, and if these reviews had been in place, we wouldn't still be uncovering answers today."

The family remain in a civil legal battle with Milligan with Emily's siblings seeking damages for the loss of their loved one. It will progress in the Court of Session next year.

(Image: Supplied) Emily's concerns over Milligan's behaviour had been flagged to accommodation staff but had ultimately been ignored, prompting Mrs Drouet to work with universities like Aberdeen to improve their response to gender based violence.

After Emily's death, the teenager's friends told the family Milligan had strangled their daughter, leaving her to think she was going to die.

He had also publicly shamed her in the accommodation blocks they lived in, shouting derogatory slurs from his room window until a housing porter made him stop.

She also sought support from a residential assistant after she been assaulted but told the staff she didn't "want to get him in trouble".

The write-up from the resident's assistant went on to conclude "no follow up was required".

"Sadly, we only began uncovering what happened to Emily after we had lost her," Mrs Drouet said.

Her friends started texting me, sharing abusive messages that Emily had shown them from Angus."

She added: "Even now, through the criminal process and the ongoing civil action against Angus Milligan, we are learning more about the physical, psychological and sexual abuse Emily was subjected to and our hearts break daily."

She told The Herald she noticed her daughter's eyes had "lost their sparkle" just weeks before her death, but she told her mum tiredness was to blame.

"I had no reason to doubt her - she was a student, away from home, enjoying time with friends and of course partying, probably more than we knew," she said.

"I will always wish I had questioned it more."

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And Emily had spoken to her mum the day she died, sharing how she was looking forward to going out to celebrate St Patrick's Day.

She did not go on the night out after CCTV footage showed Milligan entering the flat and leaving after a few minutes.

Details of what happened remain unknown but a neighbour recalled her distress as she told them he had put his "hands round my throat".

Recalling trying to piece together what had happened in the aftermath of her death, Mrs Drouet said: "It felt impossible to reach out to Emily's friends at university while they were grieving their own loss.

"But we were desperate as it emerged she had been a victim of domestic abuse. 

"We couldn't rest until we understood exactly what had happened to our little girl, why she was no longer with us.

"Looking through her phone felt like a complete invasion of her privacy, but we hoped she would forgive us and understand why we needed to uncover the truth - for her sake and for others."

Her daughter's death lead to the creation of EmilyTest charity which urges universities to complete its gender-based violence charter - showing a "mark of excellence" in creating safer campuses for women.

Aberdeen, St Andrews and Strathclyde are the universities who have since achieved the award, along with South Lanarkshire College.

An additional 13 institutions are working towards achieving the status.

She said: "There were countless missed opportunities to save Emily and that's the most devastating part, that it could and should have been different."

She said Aberdeen University had since worked "tirelessly" to close the gaps by training staff in gender-based violence, gaining the Emily Test charter award in August this year.

The Drouet siblings. (Image: Supplied) Because of this charity, Mrs Drouet said: "I truly believe that if this had happened to Emily today, she would have been saved and have gone on to live the happy and full life she so deserved.

"While it doesn't ease our pain, we can at least ensure others won't endure the pain Emily did and the pain we will feel for the rest of our lives."

Aberdeen University said it has taken significant steps to address gender-based violence, adding it had an "unwavering commitment" to protect students.

Nick Edwards, deputy director of people at the university told The Herald: "We, and many other institutions, are on a journey to do better and have been humbled to work alongside Fiona and her team with the various initiatives she is leading in the sector through her charity EmilyTest."

But Mr Edwards said: "While this achievement is something to celebrate, it only marks a point in our continual journey with regards to tackling gender-based violence at the university and by no means the end of it.

"We commit to continually learning in this area and enhancing our support for victims/survivors.

"We will never forget Emily or what happened to her and this fuels our ongoing and unwavering commitment to fight gender-based violence in all forms."