IN a poignant moment for a community touched by tragedy, Leonie Shaw's tiny lilac coffin was yesterday carried past the flower-strewn spot where the six-year-old was struck by a car.

Police stopped traffic to let the horse-drawn hearse, chosen by Leonie's family, make its way to the spot on Bishop Auckland bypass where the schoolgirl was fatally injured ten days ago.

The cortege passed between two places where she had spent some of the happiest hours of her short life - the swingpark where she played with her friends and her school, St Andrew's Primary.

Earlier 300 mourners had crammed into St Mary's RC Church for Leonie's funeral service, where a priest said: "She knew she was loved."