Farewell to the sunshine smile: Orkney islanders say goodbye to Karen

ON A moody winter's day they came to remember the happy girl with the sunshine smile.

The small church in Holm, the Orcadian parish where Karen Aim grew up, was filled with images of her beaming face and larger-than-life exploits during her tragically short 26 years.

Mourners – more than 500 of them – were told that she had packed into these years more than most hope to achieve in their lifetime.

On the other side of the world, in Taupo, the New Zealand town where Ms Aim had been on a working holiday when she was murdered earlier this month, another 350 people attended a memorial service. They included the mayor of the town and members of the police force hunting her killer.

In a poignant message at the Taupo ceremony, Ms Aim's aunt, Violet Perfect, graphically summed up the feeling. Her niece, she said, had been a "bright light cruelly snuffed out".

Both congregations were asked to celebrate her life, and forgive those responsible for her death. It is 12 days since Ms Aim was attacked as she returned home from a night out with friends. She was found at the side of the road by police investigating a vandalism attack on the nearby Taupo-Nui-a-Tia College and died later in hospital.

Her body arrived back in Holm on Sunday after a 12,000-mile journey by air and sea.

Before yesterday's funeral, her parents, Brian and Peggy, and brother Alan arranged their own moving tribute as a slide-show of pictures was projected on to one of the walls inside East Mainland Parish Church.

They showed Ms Aim as a baby, as a child, a teenager, at school, on her graduation day and with friends in New Zealand, accompanied to music including Highland Cathedral and Caledonia.

Tom Petty's Free Falling then boomed out as video footage of Ms Aim skydiving in New Zealand was shown. Some mourners wept as they listened to the words of No One But You (Only The Good Die Young) by Queen.

As he arrived at the church, Mr Aim said: "The picture of her landing after that parachute jump and running to the cameraman – that is my vision of Karen. So many good memories for us. There is many a pensioner who can look back on a life having done only half of what Karen did. She lived her life to the full and it's comforting to know she did that."

All 260 seats in the church were quickly taken, then 60 in the session house next door, and another 200 in a marquee set up nearby, as people from all over Orkney gathered to pay their respects, among them Lord Wallace and Orkney MSP Liam McArthur.

With no room left, some gathered outside the church just as faint sunshine lit the grey skies.

They were told by the Rev Miriam Gross: "Let us remember Karen, her beautiful and cheerful personality, her beautiful smile, this lovely lady who put a ray of sunshine into every room she came into.

"She loved life and what God had gifted her with. She enjoyed life in all its aspects. She made more of the 26 years God had gifted her with than most of us do out of a whole lifetime.

"Let us keep these memories like buried treasure in our hearts."

Hymns at the service included All Things Bright And Beautiful. Iain Ballantine, the headteacher at Ms Aim's former school, Kirkwall Grammar, read a poem and the church choir sang a blessing.

Speaking about the impact of Ms Aim's murder, Ms Gross said: "Karen's life has come to an end, a very abrupt and shocking end.

"We are frozen and still cannot believe what's happened. But, in all of this grief, we know that Karen is now in God's loving hands."

Prayers were said for Ms Aim, her family and even those responsible for her death. "We pray for the person or persons who fatally injured Karen," Ms Gross said. "Forgive the pain brought over us by those taking Karen's life and forgive their families as well."

A similar sentiment was expressed in the New Zealand service, held at 4:30am UK time and mirroring the occasion in Orkney.

The Rev John Howell read out a message from Ms Aim's parents which asked for forgiveness for her killer or killers.

He also called on the murderer to give himself up: "Have the courage to accept the forgiveness offered by the Aim family, and then come and share your secret with the police."

Ms Aim's aunt, who lives in New Zealand, said when her niece stayed with her, the house changed "as if a light had been switched on". She added: "She absolutely buzzed with life. She loved life, she loved New Zealand, she loved Taupo, she loved her job and she loved all her new friends. Now her bright light has been cruelly snuffed out."

Ms Aim was buried in the shore-side cemetery in Holm. In New Zealand, there are plans to erect a permanent memorial.

THE MYSTERY CYCLIST

AS POLICE try to close the net on Karen Aim's killer, they have issued new CCTV images.

The two grainy pictures were captured on a security camera at the Taupo-nui-a-tia College shortly before Karen was beaten and left to die on the street.

They show someone riding a distinctive light-coloured bicycle around the college grounds yards from where Ms Aim was found in a pool of blood.

Police officers had been responding to a vandalism attack at the school when they came across Ms Aim. She was able to give her name, but died from severe head injuries later in hospital.

Ms Aim had left the Element Bar in Taupo shortly before 2am. Cameras captured her entering an all-night garage at 2am and leaving four minutes later. She was found at 2:34am.

Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Turner, leading the murder investigation, said the cyclist was

"certainly a person of interest" who could provide vital evidence about what had happened, and appealed for him or her to come forward.