Hundreds of ashen faced mourners filed solemnly into the cavernous hall of Liverpool Cathedral this afternoon to pay their final respects to Ashley Dale.
For the second time in the space of five days, a family buried a young, vibrant person whose bright future was snatched away by a man with a gun. Ashley at 28 may have seen more of life than nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, but her death in Leinster Road, Old Swan, on August 21 was also unnatural, appalling and devastating.
In a private service, the family remembered a driven, successful and adored young woman who loved animals and wanted to "make a difference" to her city. Speaking after the service, the acting Bishop of Liverpool and Bishop of Warrington, the Rt Revd Beverly Mason, told the ECHO Ashley's family wanted her not to be forgotten and to be remembered for who she was, rather than just as a victim of an devastating crime.
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She said: "They want people to know the woman, the young woman, the beautiful person that Ashley was. They don't want people to forget. They don't want people to forget the person who actually wanted to make a difference in this part of the world.
"We were hearing stories of her love for animals and how she was a rescuer. There was a wonderful story of a cockerel that was causing a disturbance in the local community. The cockerel was destined for the pot, and so she devoted so much time to trying to rehabilitate the cockerel, she was not going to let it meet its fate. She was a life-giver and a life-energiser, and that I think is going to be a part of her legacy."
It was clear from the number of people who attended the service that those who loved Ashley will not allow her life to be overshadowed by her death. Amongst the mourners were dozens of young people, many overcome with grief. The flowers in the hearse carrying her white coffin spelled out the words 'Daughter' and 'Our Ash'.
Ashley had previously been described as a "rising star" in her work as an environmental health officer for Knowsley Council, where she had recently been awarded a promotion. And her family's pride in her success shone through in the picture they shared with the media; Ashley beaming in her cap and gown after her graduation ceremony.
Bishop Mason said: "She's touched so many lives. The cathedral today was full and it was full of people across the generations but especially from young people, people whose lives she's touched and impacted, with her life, her fun, her goodness and love she was a very kind woman and she wanted a better Liverpool. That's what she worked for, that's what people remembered her for."
However, the hunt for the man who burst through her front door firing indiscriminately remains ongoing. There have been a number of arrests, but no-one has yet been charged.
Bishop Mason, visibly angry, said her killers would have to "stand before god" and account for their actions. She said: "I swear to you, I don't want to be doing any more funerals of people who have been murdered. It's shocking, shocking, shocking. It's a blasphemy against god, it's a blasphemy against human dignity and I think we need to be saying there needs to be a gun amnesty, there needs to be a knife amnesty, and we need to be working at being the people we are in Liverpool.
"Liverpool is such a warm, friendly, stunning place; a place of life and creativity and we are presently being over-shadowed by this awful stuff that's taking place.
"I am saying today enough is enough. No more, no more mishaps, there should never be a life targeted, that should never happen. Life is too short. However long we live, life really is very short and that some people feel they are entitled to take the life of another human being is simply a scandal and a blasphemy and they will stand before the throne of god and account for their actions. So may they make peace and reconciliation in this lifetime."
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