FRIENDS and family members filled West Wiltshire Crematorium on the morning of Monday October 23 to say their farewells to Gill Barter, the young mother who was found dead at her Market Lavington home on October 3.

The Rev Harry Chapman, who took the service, paid tribute to the caring young mother and said: "The question in all of our minds is why. But it would be a brave, nay, foolish man who would try to answer that question."

Miss Barter's long-term boyfriend, Darren Maslen, 28, has been charged with her murder.

Mr Chapman asked the congregation to pray for the family, especially the couple's two-year-old daughter, Megan.

He added: "And, despite what feelings we may have, let us pray for Darren."

Megan is currently being looked after by Miss Barter's family at her mother's home in Commercial Road, Devizes. They are working with Megan's other grandparents, Ted and Shirley Maslen, to assure her future.

The family produced a memorial leaflet in memory of the 27-year-old, who worked for Metabolics nutritional supplements company in Eastcott, not far from her home in The Muddle, Market Lavington.

In it they described Miss Barter as an 'angel without wings who touched us all with her Gillness'.

She was born in Lincoln in 1973, the second of Alan and Margaret Barter's three daughters. She had a very happy childhood where she made many friends through Brownies, school and the Army Cadet Force.

She left Devizes School with good qualifications and, after two years in various jobs, including at Wiltshire Police Headquarters, she started work at Omitec, where she worked for about seven years. Many of the friends she made there were among the mourners on Monday.

She left when she became pregnant with Megan, her Godsend according to the family's leaflet.

In early September this year, she enjoyed her first foreign holiday with the whole family in Cyprus, her last present from her father who passed away in April. The leaflet also says: "Gill was very quiet with people she didn't know but let her hair down when she was among family and friends and brought the meaning of fun into life with her free sense of humour.

"She was extremely caring and would do anything for anybody. Her main interest was her family and she enjoyed nothing more than spending time with them, especially her daughter Megan.

"Her untimely and tragic death has left a huge void in our lives and it is a comfort to know that she is now at peace with her dad. She will be sorely missed but forever remembered in our hearts."