For most people Christmas morning is a magical time; it's the closest any family comes to perfect happiness. 

However for one family in Windgap, Co. Kilkenny, on December 25th in 2008 that joy was lost forever. 

Thirty year old Sharon Whelan was at home with her two little girls on Christmas Eve, waiting for them to fall asleep so her father Christy - the girls' granddad - could drive the mile or so up to her small cottage and quietly drop off the presents.

Zara was seven and Nadia was two years old. 

Little did anyone know that Christy would be the last family member to see his daughter alive as he handed the gifts to Sharon at the door. 

Later that evening, Brian Hennessy, the local postman who lived in the village himself, arrived at Sharon's cottege.

He raped her and he strangled her. He then brought her body into her sleeping daughters' bedroom where the two girls lay undistrubed in their beds. He then set fire to the cottage,- in an attempt to destroy any evidence that would reveal that he had killed Sharon.

However, neighbours noticed the smoke in the early hours of Christmas morning and raised the alarm. 

In spite of the flames and the smoke, a local man managed to break into the downstairs bedroom window and carry all three bodies out - preserving vital DNA evidence - before most of the house collapsed around them.

The actions of that heroic man ultimately led to the Gardai finding their killer, and his conviction on three counts of murder. 

Almost five years on, the Whelan family are still trying to come to terms with losing Sharon as well as Zara and Nadia.

This week, Pat went to their home in Windgap to meet Nancy and Christy, Sharon's parents, and her brother, John.

Surrounded by photographyers and memories of their "three angels" as they call them, Pat asked them to describe the kind of girl Sharon was: