Town to say prayers for tragic teenagers

PRAYERS are to be said today at a service in Speyside in memory of the teenage sweethearts who died in a double shooting at a remote cottage.

Sophie Taylor was killed when Calum Murray's shotgun went off accidentally and the distraught trainee gamekeeper then used another weapon to take his own life.

The incident happened as 16-year-old Sophie cooked an evening meal at Blairnamarrow Cottage, near Tomintoul.

Tomintoul's Church of Scotland minister, the Rev Sven Bjarnason, will be leading the prayers at a service at Grantown today. A united service is being held because the Right Rev John Christie, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, is visiting the area.

Mr Bjarnason said: "We will be saying prayers for the families." He said he hoped the service would provide some comfort to the relatives and friends of Sophie and 18-year-old Murray.

Mr Bjarnason added that people in Tomintoul were "very, very sad" and still in shock.

It emerged yesterday that two weapons were involved in last Tuesday's shooting. When Murray's gun went off, Sophie, of Keepers Cottage, Delnabo, was hit in the chest. Another young woman, Leanne Bremner, is believed to have been standing behind her at the time. Mr Murray ran outside, but fellow gamekeeper Euan Clive managed to take his gun away from him. Mr Murray then ran back into the house, picked up another shotgun and killed himself outside.

Staff at North Highland College at Thurso, where Murray was a gamekeeping student, are planning a memorial to him.