Tragic cliff plunge family mourned - News in brief - Evening Standard
       

Tragic cliff plunge family mourned

Hundreds of mourners have gathered for the funeral of a "perfect couple" and their "sweet" young son whose bodies were discovered at the bottom of cliffs.

Neil Puttick, 34, and his Japanese wife Kazumi, 44, were found dead at Beachy Head in East Sussex last month, three days after their disabled son, Samuel, died of meningitis at their home in Westbury, Wiltshire.

The five-year-old had been discharged from hospital after being given no hope of survival and died that evening.

More than 200 family and friends filled All Saints Church in Westbury, where five-year-old Sam's coffin was adorned with toy tractors and flowers.

An order of service with hymns, prayers and poems was handed out, in both English and Japanese, at the 14th century church.

After hymns All Things Bright And Beautiful and Shine Jesus Shine were sung, the song Edelweiss was played - from Sam's favourite film The Sound Of Music.

Sam was confined to a wheelchair following a car crash when he was 18 months old and his parents looked after him with the help of nurses and carers.

Sam's body was found in a rucksack about 400ft down the notorious suicide spot, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, alongside his parents' bodies on June 1 by coastguards on routine patrol.

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