Funeral held for children found dead in their home

Eight-year-old twins Austin and Luke Riggi and their five-year-old sister Cecilia were discovered in an Edinburgh townhouse on August 4 following reports of an explosion.

Their mother, Theresa Riggi, 46, who is being treated in hospital after apparently falling from a second-floor balcony, has been charged with their murder.

Prayers were said for the children at St Mary's Cathedral in Aberdeen, where they lived until shortly before their deaths.

The family asked mourners to make donations to the Reverend Gordon Trust Orphan Fund, instead of flowers.

The service was led by Bishop Peter Moran.

Relatives addressed mourners during the 90-minute service, which was being followed by a private memorial at the city's crematorium.

In a statement, Peter Moran, Bishop of Aberdeen, said: "Everybody is very shocked and distressed by the deaths of these three children, and I'm particularly distressed because they worshipped here. In fact the twins made their first Communion here just in the spring of this year.

"I'm pleased that they have their extended family with them. These are people of great faith. So the church is a family too and they have turned to the church for comfort.

"We have tried to give that privately of course but also in the course of the Funeral Mass that has just taken place.

"The Funeral Mass is much more than a memorial, looking back. Because we believe in resurrection and life after death, we also look forward. We comfort each other with the words of scripture as Christians have done for hundreds of years.

"And when we think of the children themselves we trust in God, we ask Him to take them into His care and take them home. And all the more so because they are so young and innocent.

"And then of course, a quiet word. A quiet prayer for the mother of the children because God is the only one who knows and can see into her troubled heart."