The funeral has taken place this morning of Co Down pensioner Annie McCartan who was brutally murdered in Warrenpoint last week.
Mrs McCartan, a mother of 13, was stabbed and beaten in her Summer Hill home on her 75th birthday last Thursday. Her body was found by two of her sons.
Canon John Kearney told mourners at St Peter's Church this morning that her unexpected and tragic death had turned their world upside down.
"We are shocked as individuals and we were visibly shaken as a community when we learned about the unexpected and tragic death of someone who lived among us and was known to so many," he said.
Police will stage a reconstruction of Mrs McCartan's last known movements today. On Saturday, Detective Superintendent Tim Hanley described the murder as barbaric and appealed for members of the public to help them track down the killer, whose clothes, police believe, would have been soaked with blood.
Mr Hanley also observed: "It would appear that Mrs McCartan was brutally beaten and then repeatedly stabbed in her own home . . . I have no doubt that the person who carried out this horrendous murder would have been covered extensively in blood."
A woman wearing clothing similar to Mrs McCartan will walk along the Summer Hill Road at about 2.20pm as part of the reconstruction. Police patrols in the area have been stepped up in an attempt to reassure local people.
PA