Funeral for Heathfield brother and sister

18 March 2010, 12:30 | Updated: 18 March 2010, 13:41

Mourners gather to pay their respects to 3 year old Harry Donnison and 2 year old sister Elise were discovered by officers in the boot of a Nissan car near their former family home in Heathfield, East Sussex.

 

The bodies were found after the toddlers' mother, 43-year-old Fiona Donnison, visited a local police station on January 27.

Today the children's bodies were brought in a double coffin, a lone piper led the hearse today at the funeral at Mortlake Crematorium in Richmond, Surrey,

Half was painted pink and half blue, and it was decorated with white moons and stars. Two teddy bears sat on top of white floral tributes, again one blue and one pink for the brother and sister.

Paul Donnison, the children's father, was one of the first to arrive and was comforted by friends and relatives, who hugged him at the entrance to the building.

The children's mother did not attend the service.

Mr Donnison wrote a poem for his children, which he read out as part of a eulogy during the service.

"They are Gone

You can shed tears that they are gone

or you can smile because they have lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that they’ll come back

or you can open your eyes and see all they left.

Your heart can be empty because you can't see them

or you can be full of the love you shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday

or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember them and only that they’re gone

or you can cherish their memory and let it live on.

You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back or you can do what they’d want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

Goodnight Harry & Elise until I see you again, Dad."

 

Flowers were left for Harry and Elise at the crematorium by some of their friends. One, written in a child's handwriting and attached to a floral tribute, read:

``I miss you and always will. I am very sad that you're gone. ``I love you both and I always will.''

Another message to the children read: ``A gift for such a little while. Your loss just seems so wrong. You should not have left before us.''

Fiona Donnison, of Marshwood Road, Lightwater, Surrey, has been remanded to a psychiatric unit in West Sussex, charged with their murders. She is due to appear at a plea and case management hearing at Lewes Crown Court on April 23.

Initial post-mortem examination results showed the children died from asphyxia and had been dead for less than 24 hours when they were found.