What happened to Lisa Ross? Reporting from Athens as a murder case unfolds

I arrived in Athens the week after the body of Scottish aid worker Lisa Ross was found in an abandoned building, inside a suitcase. The BBC had sent me to cover the story because a man had been accused of her murder.

It struck me that the case was attracting a great deal of attention, but I shouldn't have been surprised.

The details are obviously shocking - both to the people living nearby and to those abroad watching the story unfold.

In the Kypseli area, where the 38-year-old was discovered, people expressed genuine horror at what had happened on their doorstep.

Many told me that it was usually a very safe neighbourhood.

On Evelpidon Street, the building where Lisa's body was found is actually the shell of a former car showroom.

It has big metal security fencing all around it and is covered in graffiti, with vegetation growing out of the roof.

But there are apartment blocks close by and there is a park directly opposite as well as a sports club.

The area was really busy and popular with tourists who stay in the masses of Airbnbs.

Cafes, shops and big apartment blocks were bustling with activity in the baking Athens heat.

Lisa, who had been volunteering with a refugee support group and had been staying in Athens for about a month, was living less than a mile away - in a traditional Greek apartment building with lots of cooling marble in the foyer.

We managed to get inside and speak to people who lived there.

One neighbour told us he was terrified. He had no idea that what had been happening, essentially right under his nose.

There are around 12 flats in the block, three on each floor and a basement.

We were told Lisa had been staying on the ground floor.

On one door we found black markings - dust from where police had been searching for fingerprints as part of the investigation.

The man accused of killing Lisa is Sharif Ahmadzai, a 26-year-old who was born in Afghanistan and arrived in Greece as a refugee when he was 15.

He has an American wife and converted to Christianity before setting up a charity to help refugees.

Before he came to court, much of what we knew about the case came from police sources but never officially from the police themselves.

Official police figures in Greece would confirm very few details but there was a constant drip of information from the police union who did not seem to follow the same rules as their bosses.

They told us about CCTV footage showing Ahmadzai moving a suitcase which it was thought contained Lisa's body.

They said he admitted to moving the body but not to murdering her.

Ahmadzai's first court appearance was on Wednesday morning in the court building, coincidentally on the same street where Lisa's body was found.

Unlike Scotland, only accredited court reporters are allowed inside the building so I had to stand outside trying to find shade as the sun beat down.

The reporters outside the court with me were mainly Greek, with a few other international journalists there also.

After waiting a while, the local reporters burst into a sudden excitement when they were sent video of Ahmadzai being bundled into a car at police HQ.

This gave us 10 minutes to prepare for his arrival.

I had expected a prison van but instead a small, grey Hyundai i30 hatchback drove past us at speed and into the secure compound behind a security gate and barbed wire perimeter.

We couldn't see Ahmadzai because the car had blacked out windows.

However when he was coming out our local news contact Daphne, who had been able to get inside the compound, filmed him on her phone.

On Thursday, Ahmadzai was in court again to be charged and remanded in custody until his trial, which could take up to 18 months.

This time I managed to get inside the compound and waited for three hours for the hearing to end.

As he came out and I saw him for the first time, I was struck by the contrast with the pictures and videos I had seen of him.

Two tall, armed police officers, wearing balaclavas, stood either side of a handcuffed Ahmadzai as they led him, in what felt like quite a performative manner, past the reporters.

Ahmadzai, who is said to have been a champion boxer, looked small as he walked swiftly past us with his head permanently bowed. He looked utterly dejected.

As he approached, I was able to ask him if he knew Lisa and if he had killed her.

He didn't say anything.

Again, it was the police union who later told the BBC that officers arrested Ahmadzai after his wife provided them with "key" and "decisive" details placing her husband and Lisa at the same apartment on 15 July.

She told police that she and her husband met Lisa - while volunteering for a refugee charity in Athens in February.

We were also told Ahmadzai denies homicide with intent - equivalent to a murder charge in Scotland - but admits moving the body, claiming he did so because he feared he would be blamed for her death.

There have been more leaks to the media than I've ever seen as a journalist and Ahmadzai's defence lawyer highlighted that this could be to the detriment of his presumption of innocence.

Christos Erdas said his client had exercised his right to remain silent so that he could present his defence in full once the case file was completed and that his rights had been "violated" through leaks of evidence.

Greek journalists are used to all this but they have been fascinated that reporters have travelled from Scotland for the case.

I spoke to Greek TV channel Star and national broadcaster ERT - they wanted to know why we came, and how people are reacting back home.

One reporter said the case reminded him of the script from a horror film.

As a journalist, it's easy to become absorbed by the rush for information, deadlines and bringing our audience to the centre of the story.

This week has been a reminder not to lose sight of why all of the above is important.

At the centre of all of this is a woman whose untimely death in the most horrific of circumstances has left a family searching for answers.

And while the investigation into what happened to her continues, Lisa Ross remains the most important part of the story.

And as I leave Athens for now, she's the person I'll be thinking about.