Emma Caldwell was finally laid to rest yesterday almost two-and-a-half years after she was murdered.

Family, friends and police officers gathered at a church near to the hostel where she was last seen alive to remember her life and say their final goodbyes. She was described as a loving sister and daughter with a passion for horses.

Her childhood was happy and normal, but then came the pain she spoke of to friends, trapped in a life of drug addiction and prostitution towards the end of her life when she had been living in Glasgow.

Ms Caldwell, 27, from Erskine, was found dead in woodland in Lanarkshire.

Her body was brought into Elim Church in Inglefield Street, Govanhill, after her mother, Margaret, and father, Willie, took their seats beside the rest of Emma's family.

Her uncle, Jim Coyle, delivered an emotional tribute, often holding back tears.

He said: "How often when thinking of the younger members of your family, do you think of them when they were children?

"We were a close-knit family; always were. She made us laugh and she loved it. Laughter was her favourite thing of all. She would laugh the place down wrestling with her brother Jamie. I am sure her mum and dad have that giggle etched in their memory bank forever."

Mr Coyle spoke of the transformation in Emma's fortunes after the death of her sister, Karen, who was 10 years older than her.

He said: "She had a safe and happy childhood, the sort children deserve. She loved her family and they loved her.

"Despite her later problems, she always loved her parents and family," he said. "She hoped one day to be free of her addiction that so affected her adult life."

Ann Wallace of the Salt and Light Christian group told how Ms Caldwell came to her shortly before her death desperately seeking a way out of drugs and prostitution.

She said: "She came in and said, Ann, I hate my life'. She shared her story with me and said, I don't want to live like this any longer. How can I get out of it?' She sobbed in my arms."

She added: "I want to say to Willie and Margaret, you brought up a beautiful daughter. She was loved and will continue to be loved. She will never be forgotten."

Pastor Simon Foster, who led the informal ceremony, said Emma was incredibly compassionate. He spoke, too, about how her life changed when her sister died from cancer. The tragedy left a great void in her life; a void she "learned to fill with substance".

He said: "She was vulnerable in pain and self-sufficient. She became another victim of what we call the drug culture in Glasgow. The substance she cleaved to began to control her."

He added: "Her beauty was rare. Even the ravages of the drugs couldn't steal that."

The family then followed the hearse to Inchinnan Cemetery in Renfrewshire for burial.

The 27-year-old's body was found in woods near Biggar in Lanarkshire on May 8, 2005. A lengthy investigation followed with high-profile police campaigns appealing for information. Huge images of Emma were projected on to high rise flats and her picture was displayed on billboards in a bid to track down her killer.

Four men have been charged with her murder. Huseyin Cobanoglu, 55, Halil Kandil, 34, Mustafa Soylemez, 35 and Abubekir Oncu Ga, 31 are alleged to have strangled Ms Caldwell at the Turkish community Cafe in Bridge Street on April 4, 2005, and dumped her body.