Funeral of 'ecstasy' girl

About 200 people gathered for Jade's funeral

The funeral has taken place of a 10-year-old Lancashire schoolgirl who died from a suspected overdose of the drug ecstasy.

Jade Slack, of Galgate, near Lancaster, died after taking up to five tablets while playing with a friend last month.

If toxicology results confirm the tablets were ecstasy, Jade would be the UK's youngest person to die after taking the drug.

About 200 of her friends, family members and classmates attended Ellel St John's Parish Church where her coffin was carried out to the sound of the Spice Girls' song, Goodbye.

Jade, 10, could be the UK's youngest ecstasy victim

Many people broke down when two songs Jade and her classmates had recorded were played during the service.

Her former headteacher Barbara White spoke of Jade's "lovely smile" and "cheeky grin" and said she "always seemed happy and cheerful around the school."

She added: "There has been a dreadful void in her class, which was so cruelly emphasised in the days following her death by the presence of her named drawer full of her schoolwork, her personal possessions, by the space left at her table, her unoccupied chair and the name deliberately missed out when the register was taken.

"Her whole class and her teacher have found this almost impossible to bear.

"If I know Jade, she will already have made many friends, be organising everyone, singing sweetly in God's choir, playing for his football team and sports teams and probably using more than her fair share of shiny, sparkly materials, felt tip pens and glitter."

Methodist minister Reverend Hadley Cousin, referred to the suspicion that Jade had taken ecstasy.

"Events are showing us how vigilant we need to be in the face of the dangers to young people in the wider society in which we live.

"It seems no community is immune to these," he said.