RED and white floral tributes in the shape of footballs and a Sunderland strip adorned the funeral hearse carrying the body of Dean Pike yesterday.

Hundreds of mourners attended the service for the 11-year-old, who died after a fire at the home he shared with his mother, Janine Dodd, on Deerness Estate, Hendon, Sunderland, in June.

He was trapped in the blaze, but his heavily pregnant mother escaped the flames by jumping from an upstairs window.

She spent several weeks in Newcastle General Hospital fighting for her life and that of her unborn child.

Her floral tribute to Dean was white and formed the words "Son". The card attached read: "Sleep tight my son. Good night was the last thing I said before the big part of me was taken away.

"Memories of you I am able to keep. No-one can take you out of my heart. Love and miss you everyday, Mam and baby brother."

The music that played mourners in and out of the church was Everybody's Changing, and Somewhere Only We Know, by Keane, one of Dean's favourite groups.

The Reverend Father Stuart Hill led the service, at St Peter's Church, Monkwearmouth. He said: "In his short life and, in his tragic death, Dean has touched the hearts of so many people ... a sad and needless death, a family torn apart, a life cut short."

He said that Dean "never got the chance to be the person he could have been, robbed of the opportunity to fulfil his ambitions, denied the possibility of fulfilling his potential".

The service was followed by burial at Mere Knolls Cemetery, in Seaburn Dene, Sunderland.

Ms Dodd, and Dean's father, also called Dean, paid tribute to the firefighters who fought desperately to try to save their son's life by asking for donations to benefit the Fire Service National Benevolent Fund.

Terry Majinusz, 40, of North Bridge Street, and Neil English, 42, of Chester Road, both Sunderland, have both been charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with the fire.