Emotional scenes at Philpott children's funeral

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On each coffin there was a painting for each child at the front Jade's coffin a princess can be seen Credit: PA

The funeral of six children who died in a house fire in Derby took place today. Hundreds of mourners packed into St Mary's Church for the service of Jade, aged 10, John, aged 9, Jack, aged 8, Jessie, 6, Jayden, 5 and Duwayne, 13.

The horse-drawn carriages carrying the coffins, the pink carriage carrying Jade's. Credit: PA

The bodies of the children arrived in individual horse-drawn carriages.

A horse with pink feathers carrying the coffin of 10-year-old Jade led the cortege.

Each coffin bore the name of each child and an emblem of something important to each of them.

The horse-drawn carriages carried the children's coffins Credit: ITV

Jade's coffin was carried by her older brother Richard. She had a princess painted onto it, Jayden a dinosaur, Jesse had a wrestler because he was affectionately known as 'little scrapper', John had toy army figures, Jack had the children's cartoon Pepper Pig and Duwayne had the emblem of Derby County Football Club.

A princess painted onto Jade's coffin carried by her older brother Richard, followed by Jayden who had a dinosaur Credit: ITV

Family members and friends threw flowers as the coffins entered the church.

The service, lead by Father Alan Burbidge, lasted 90 minutes. Family and friends were given yellow roses and flower rosettes with six petals, one for each child, blue for the boys and pink for Jade as they entered the church.

The tributes to the children were written by friends and family but read out by teachers from their schools. Many of the mourners wore brightly coloured clothes after a request by the family.

Tears and laughter was heard during the service as tributes were read out Credit: ITV

Tears and laughter was heard during the service as the tributes were paid to each child.

The service ended with a poem called Angels on High with the lines:

After the service the coffins were then taken by horse-drawn carriages to a cemetery in nearby Chaddesden for a private burial service. Credit: PA

The coffins were taken by horse-drawn carriages to a cemetery in nearby Chaddesden for a private burial service.

The children's parents Mick, 55, and Mairead Philpott, who have been charged with their murder following the blaze at the family home in Allenton on May 11, were understood not to be at the funeral.

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