Emotional tribute to children stabbed at Pontesbury Hill
Schoolfriends of three children who were found stabbed to death at a disused quarry in a Shropshire village have paid an emotional tribute to them.
Sam, Rebecca and Charlotte Fuller, who were all found dead along with their father Ceri at Pontesbury Hill, near Shrewsbury, in July, were remembered in a memorial at Sam's former school in Gloucestershire yesterday.
The event was organised by three close friends of 12-year-old Sam at Lakers School in Coleford, with balloons released into the sky and candles lit in memory of the three siblings.
The ceremony was attended by the children's mother Ruth Fuller, with a message she had written read out on her behalf.
It thanked people for the 'compassion and support' they had shown following the tragedy, as well as those who played a part in her children's short lives.
"My children have remained a source of comfort and inspiration to me throughout this," it added.
"They may have only had a short time but each of them embraced an abundance of life."
A headstone with pictures of Sam, Rebecca and Charlotte was unveiled, as friends and family gathered at the school. Jack Cook, one of the children who helped organise the event, said: "Sam, you were my one and only best friend."
The four bodies were found at Poles Coppice, Pontesbury Hill, near Shrewsbury, on Monday, July 16, after the family had been reported missing from their Forest of Dean home in Gloucestershire the previous Thursday.
A post-mortem test revealed Mr Fuller, died 'from multiple injuries consistent with falling from a height'.
His son Sam, 12, and daughters Rebecca, eight, and Charlotte, seven, all died from stab injuries.
A knife was recovered from the scene.
By Chris Burn
