'Rae of sunshine' remembered

Rae, 19, had been found stabbed to death at her Cantelupe Road home on March 28.

Friends from Bexhill joined the family in a gathering of hundreds at Eastbourne Crematorium.

So many people attended that not everyone could squeeze into the chapel.

The occasion was planned as a celebration of the life of the popular young woman .

Rae (pictured below) worked at HSBC Bank in Market Street, Hailsham.

The congregation heard the song Cry Though Your Heart is Aching, sung by Michael Jackson, as the service began.

One friend said: 'We have heard Rae described as a Rae of sunshine which lit up everybody's life.

Another word for ray is beam; another word for beam is support; and another word for support is daughter, sister, grand-daughter.'

She then read lines from Lord Byron's She Walks in Beauty before Rae's best friend of 14 years described how she had never known a person as special as her.

The headteacher of Bexhill High School, Mike Conn, talked of the former Head Girl's 'warm smile, kindness and support'.

The congregation then sang along to Nana Mouskouri's version of Morning Has Broken before the service ended with Cliff Richard's She's So Beautiful.

Mourners gathered in the garden behind the chapel after the service to look at the many floral tributes.

Rae was the daughter of Zoe Marfleet and Eastbourne's head of CID, Detective Chief Inspector Jim Torbet. She also had a brother, aged 17.

Rae's parents had described their daughter as 'a wonderful individual who had a considerable zest for life'.

r Her former boyfriend, Dellwyn James, 31, from Hastings, has been charged with her murder.

He is remanded in custody and will appear at Lewes Crown Court at a later date.