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  • "I went to the service yesterday, just as a stranger, not connected to the family in any way. I didn't even take a seat but stood at the back out of sight. Richard will not even have been aware of my presence, but I found his speech profoundly moving. I then went to sit outside to collect my thoughts and watched the balloons being released. The weather was sunny but there were these extraordinary bursts of wind which propelled every colour of the rainbow skyward - an overwhelming sight."
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Brother pays moving tribute to Caroline Stuttle

9:40am Wednesday 11th April 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Kate Liptrot , kate.liptrot@thepress.co.uk

Marjorie and Alan Stuttle, the parents of murdered backpacker Caroline Stuttle, and her brother Richard, light candles in York Minster to mark the tenth anniversary of the death of Caroline Marjorie and Alan Stuttle, the parents of murdered backpacker Caroline Stuttle, and her brother Richard, light candles in York Minster to mark the tenth anniversary of the death of Caroline

THE brother of murdered York teenager Caroline Stuttle has spoken in memory of his sister at a moving service to mark the tenth anniversary of her death.

Caroline, 19, died after she was robbed and pushed from a bridge in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia, on April 10, 2002.

Yesterday, hundreds of people attended choral evensong at the Minster followed by a service to celebrate Caroline’s life, after which the whole congregation lit candles in her memory.

Richard Stuttle, Caroline’s brother, spoke poignantly of his sister as “a vibrant young girl full of potential and promise”.

He said: “It has been a very difficult time for us and is still hard to believe she is not longer with us.

“It must be every family’s worst nightmare to lose someone who is part of you and who you have shared so much of your life with.

“As a family we miss her every day and it is heartbreaking to think: ‘What would she be doing now?’ “I miss the things we will never get to do or share.”

Mr Stuttle said he had travelled the world since his sister’s death, visiting places he knew she had seen and others “she would have loved to have seen” and he felt that she had in some way shared in those moments.

He said that after Caroline’s death, the family gained hope from Caroline’s Rainbow Foundation, set up in her name as a safety guide for young travellers, and added that the way in which Caroline “gave without thought of herself and without thought of reward” should inspire others.

“Today I believe that is her wish for people to not only remember her but to show kindness and love for others,” he said.

Radio York presenter Elly Fiorentini also read a poem in Caroline’s memory, and mezzo-soprano Julia Riley performed Handel’s aria Where’er You Walk.

After the service, rainbow-coloured balloons were released over Dean’s Park.

Ahead of the service, David Batt, the Australian police officer who led the investigation which culminated in her killer, Ian Previte, being jailed for life, spoke about the investigation in an interview with the NewsMail, in Bundaberg, Queensland.

Mr Batt praised the work of Caroline’s mother Marjorie Marks and Caroline’s Rainbow Foundation and spoke of how her death had so affected the local community in Bundaberg.

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