Tributes as huge crowds gather for funeral of murder victim Sarah Montgomery
Alliance MLA and Minister of Agriculture and Environment Andrew Muir pictured at the service. Jonathan Porter/PressEye
Mourners attended the Service of Thanksgiving for Sarah Montgomery and her baby Liam Arthur held at Donaghadee Parish Church. Volunteers from the RNLI pictured at the service. Jonathan Porter/PressEye
Service of Thanksgiving for Sarah Montgomery and her baby Liam Arthur held at Donaghadee Parish Church, Co. Down. Jonathan Porter/PressEye
Hundreds of people gather in Co Down for the funeral of Sarah Montgomery. The 27-year-old was killed last month. Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press.
Hundreds of people gather in Co Down for the funeral of Sarah Montgomery. Inset: Sarah Montgomery
'A grandmother and grandfather shouldn't be burying their granddaughter and her baby; that is not how it should be.'
Those were the powerful words shared by Revd Kathy Couchman as she addressed hundreds at Sarah Montgomery's funeral on Thursday.
She added: 'Sarah should be with her family, with her little girls, getting ready for the arrival of her baby boy.
"Sarah and Liam Arthur and his sisters should have a future ahead of them, but that future has been brutally and unjustly snatched away from them, and from their family and friends.'
The sun was shining down on the coastal town of Donaghadee, as Revd Couchman addressed bereaved people from near and far, who gathered inside and outside the town's Anglican Parish Church.
Large speakers were placed in the adjoining cemetery, and tens of seats were also placed alongside the adjacent parish hall, as the crowds that attended to pay their respects to the 27-year-old pregnant mum-of-two, were too large to fit inside the building itself.
The majority of people were gathered outside the church more than half an hour before the service began at 3pm. Ms Montgomery's body had been committed earlier that day by Revd Ian Gamble and Revd Kathy Couchman.
Funeral goers were told that Ms Montgomery, who was killed in her Donaghadee home last month, was a 'born carer'.
A man appeared in court last week charged with her murder and the destruction of her child.
Zak Hughes (28), of Ardglen Place, north Belfast, was remanded in custody.
Hundreds of people gather in Co Down for the funeral of Sarah Montgomery. Inset: Sarah Montgomery
Man appears in court charged with the Murder of Sarah Montgomery
Mourners mostly wore sunglasses as temperatures hit 20C in the Co Down town on Thursday afternoon.
One said they were glad of the good weather, as it meant they could all cover their eyes to hide their tears.
Many women attending said that they did not know the deceased or her family personally, but felt the need to attend because Ms Montgomery's death had struck such a cord with them.
A relative of Ms Montgomery emotionally and visibly broke down when Revd Couchman described how much the young woman had cared for brothers when they were born, and then for her two own daughters not long after.
Sarah Montgomery
Ms Montgomery's own parents died within a few years of each other within the last decade.
'Sarah was just a born carer,' said the reverend.
'Her friends and family have all spoken of how she had a 'heart of gold', of how caring she was, not only towards people she knew, but to anyone who needed help, and Arthur and Edie (Sarah's grandparents) have told me just how much love and kindness she has shown them throughout her life and how much she has done to help them.
'When Sarah's brothers were born, she would help her Mummy, Linda, and Daddy, Andrew, look after them.
'Sadly, both Linda and Andrew died at far too early an age, within a few short years of each other.
'Sarah, then just a very young woman, took over the care for her brothers and she continued to care for them, alongside her Granda and Granny, until the day she died, all through the time since her own two little girls arrived; and, oh, how she loved being Mummy to those little girls.'
Hundreds of people gather in Co Down for the funeral of Sarah Montgomery. Inset: Sarah Montgomery
Hundreds attend vigil in memory of Sarah Montgomery
Friends of Sarah described the young woman as being 'just the best Mummy'.
They said her young daughters were the centre of Sarah's world and 'were always looked after so beautifully'.
She was due to give birth to Liam Arthur around the beginning of August, and Revd Couchman explained that 'thoughtful as ever', she already had clothes prepared for him, embroidered with his name.
'It is an utter tragedy that none of us has had, or ever will have, the chance to know him, to see him as a little boy or grown into a young man, but his was a life, a very precious life, that we must recognise and give thanks for,' added the officiant.
'His was a life that was so dearly loved and cherished by Sarah, who would have been the best, most loving Mummy to him, too.
'She had everything ready to welcome him to this world, to her family and to her girls.'
Ms Montgomery was also remembered as being a proud fundraiser and volunteer for the RNLI's Donaghadee Lifeboat branch.
Mourners attended the Service of Thanksgiving for Sarah Montgomery and her baby Liam Arthur held at Donaghadee Parish Church. Volunteers from the RNLI pictured at the service. Jonathan Porter/PressEye
She was 'so immensely proud especially to be Arthur and Edie Arbuckle's granddaughter and to have a Granda who was, 'Arthur Arbuckle, the lifeboatman'.'
Volunteers and officials from the RNLI, dressed in uniform, were amongst mourners in the church for Ms Montgomery's service.
They formed a makeshift guard of honour for her grandparents as they left the front of the church after the service.
People have been asked to make donations to the local RNLI division in lieu of flowers, as a tribute to Ms Montgomery.
Revd Couchman stressed that 'none of this (the death of Sarah and her unborn baby) was the will, or work, of God'.
'This isn't right; this isn't how it should be, and we must not lose sight of the fact that it is neither right, nor is it in any way excusable,' she added.
'We must not allow the cruelty that has stolen away those precious lives to steal away all our hope as well.'
One theme the celebrant emphasised, which echoed the sentiments of Ms Montgomery's grandparents, was the power of community in Donaghadee and the strength that has been derived from that since Ms Montgomery's passing.
'There is hope in this life, there is, there must be, great hope for the future of Sarah's two little girls, for ourselves, and there is hope, too, that is born of love – the love that has brought you here today, that has led so many to reach out to the family in great kindness, the love that shows just how much goodness actually surrounds us in this life in the hearts of so many.'
Hundreds of people gather in Co Down for the funeral of Sarah Montgomery. Inset: Sarah Montgomery
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