A POIGNANT tribute was paid to murdered Yarmouth student Simon Everitt yesterday as friends and family gathered in the bright sunshine for his funeral.

A POIGNANT tribute was paid to murdered Yarmouth student Simon Everitt yesterday as friends and family gathered in the bright sunshine for his funeral.

As the 17-year-old's hearse pulled away from the town's St Nicholas Church a ripple of applause broke the silence as loved ones paid their respects to the music-loving engineering student nearly four months after his body was found on remote farmland.

Yarmouth College pupil Simon went missing on June 7 and his burnt body was discovered at Mautby on June 29.

During the funeral mourners heard Simon loved singing and entertaining people and was looking forward to embarking on a career in engineering.

And after the service dozens gathered around his coffin, which was covered in his Manchester United quilt, and clapped as his body was driven away from the Yarmouth church.

Canon Michael Woods said: “We shall remember him. We will thank God for his life among us. Give Simon the applause his life deserves.”

He added Simon had made many friends on his life's journey but his path had ended in an “appalling and tragic murder”.

The mourners heard Simon's big love was music and showbusiness and once he had queued up for three hours to get the autographs of the children's entertainers the Chuckle Brothers at the Britannia Pier.

They also heard a song performed and written by Simon and his father - Love out Loud.

During the service Yarmouth College principal Robin Parkinson paid a moving tribute to Simon saying: “He was on the brink of an engineering career. It is a tragedy that he is not with us now.

“I think we all were shocked by the circumstances of Simon's death.”

Simon moved to Yarmouth when he was 13 and in honour of his memory the Simon Everitt Life Fund has been set up to raise money to build a youth centre in the town.

Canon Woods said: “He was instinctively a paternal person. He loved to encourage and support children much younger than himself.”

The Simon Everitt Life Fund organises fund raising entertainment nights at the Dukes Head Hotel. Anyone who wants to support the appeal can call 01493 852024.

Two men Jonathan Clarke, 19, of Telford, Shropshire, and Jimi Lee Stewart, 24, of Nelson Road Central, Yarmouth, have denied murdering Simon and are due to appear at Norwich Crown Court next April for trial.

Maria Chandler, 40, of Lancaster Road, Yarmouth, has been charged with murdering Simon and has yet to enter a plea.