Funeral for tragic TV star Mark

Children's TV star Mark Speight was this afternoon described as a "Peter Pan" character by his devastated father as family and friends gathered for his funeral in Wolverhampton.

Around 100 mourners, including Timmy Mallett, Mark's former SMart co-presenter Kirsten O'Brien and best friend Jay Burridge packed into St Michael's and All Angels Church in Tettenhall.

Sixteen pupils from the 42-year-old's former school Tettenhall College sang the hymns Let There Be Peace On Earth and Deep Peace.

Mourners including Mark's mother Jackie, of Tettenhall Wood, wept as his father Oliver told of his pride at his son's talent and infectious personality.

Mr Speight said: "Mark, you are perhaps not only an actor, a comedian, artist and a poet, you are also a Peter Pan who never grew up – a pied piper who took children on a mystery tour of art.

"You leave here with our recognition, respect and pride in your achievement and with the admiration of 7,000 children who emailed the BBC and who miss you today."

Mr Speight also joked about his son's personality, laughing about a photograph which appeared in the Express & Star of him in the late 1980s wearing a kilt and playing a bugle during a fun day at Tettenhall Pool.

The theme tune from SMart, which Mark presented for 14 years, was also played as his lilly-covered coffin was led out of the church for a private service at Bushbury Crematorium.

The former Regis School pupil was found hanged in a disused office block near London's Paddington railway station on April 13, six days after the inquest into the death of his fiancee Natasha Collins. The 31-year-old actress died in January after taking cocaine and sleeping tablets.