The tiny hamlet of Ardess in Fermanagh fell silent yesterday as the grandfather of murdered |toddler Millie Martin carried her tiny coffin into the parish church.

The poignant funeral came almost exactly a year after she was christened in that same church.

Little Millie died last Friday after suffering what has been described as “an horrific attack”.

Her mother Rachael’s partner Barry McCarney (30), of Glebe Park, Enniskillen, was arrested and charged with murder.

There was a charged silence as up to 200 mourners followed the coffin from Millie’s grandparents’ house in Ardess, close to Kesh, to St Mary’s Church yesterday afternoon.

The toddler’s grandfather Edward Martin carried the heartbreakingly small coffin on his own. Rachael kept her head bowed with her blond hair falling over her face as she walked alongside the remains of her first and only child Millie.

Ms Martin’s brothers delivered a Bible reading each during the service, but the most poignant words in tribute to the 15-month-old came from Reverend Henry Blair who said Millie’s “cute, smiling face would bring a smile to everyone who saw her”.

He said she loved to visit her grandparents, who cherished the memory of her first and only birthday party.

“Rachael doted on Millie, she was her beautiful, fun-loving little girl with a smiling face who loved nothing better than to cuddle up to her mother,” he told the congregation.

“Millie was just like any toddler. She loved music and loved to try and sing along and dance. She loved to play games with mummy and playing “round and round the garden” on her hand was her favourite.

“Today, Millie is very much alive in heaven. She is not an angel, or a star, she is Millie and she is alive with Jesus. The days ahead will not be easy for the family and they will need our prayers and support.”

The child was buried at a cemetery in Ballinamallard.

Local UUP MLA Tom Elliott was amongst the mourners. He said there was still enormous disbelief at what had happened.

“The atmosphere was very sombre, I went to the house and then the service because I know the family,” he told the Telegraph. “I felt the family handled it extremely well under the circumstances.”

In her only interview earlier this week, Rachael Martin said she will never go back to live at the rented house in Glebe Park, Enniskillen.