DANNY O'Connor's family were united in grief today as they prepared to lay his body to rest.Drawing solace from each other the 23-year-old's mum, Theresa, dad, Michael, brothers, Richard, Nicholas and Michael, and sister Emma, gathered to pay their last respects.

DANNY O'Connor's family were united in grief today as they prepared to lay his body to rest.

Drawing solace from each other the 23-year-old's mum, Theresa, dad, Michael, brothers, Richard, Nicholas and Michael, and sister Emma, gathered to pay their last respects.

Alongside them at his funeral were due to be around 100 mourners whose lives Danny touched during his short time on earth.

Danny's mum said his immediate family would be too distressed to give their eulogies in person during the service.

However she expressed her gratitude to her niece, Jacqueline, who was due to speak to the congregation at St Bartholomew's Church in Newton Road, Ipswich, on their behalf.

Sharing the family's heartache will also be Danny's long-term girlfriend Susannah Wejszko, who they know as Suki.

To encapsulate their feelings, the O'Connor's have asked for the Irish ballad Danny Boy to be sung during his funeral. Other songs due to feature during the service were Puff Daddy's, I'll Be Missing You, and Everything Means Nothing Without You, by Alicia Keys.

Mrs O'Connor said: "I am dreading it. I don't want it to come. If it was not for my grandchildren I think I would have just sat there and done nothing but think about it.

"I would like to thank our family for their support, especially my brothers and sisters who have been absolutely brilliant.

"Jacqueline has been a brick. All of them have done everything we wanted, but it was nice of Jacqueline to say she would do the reading as my children felt they would be unable to do it."

A horse-drawn carriage containing Danny's coffin was due to leave the funeral director's in Cauldwell Hall Road, Ipswich, and arrive at the church just before noon for the service.

Afterwards it was expected to head the cortege through Ipswich.

A spokesman for Ipswich Co-op Funeral Directors said after leaving the church the carriage would go travel along Felixstowe Road, Derby Road, Foxhall Road, Grove Lane, St Helen's Street, St Margaret's Plain, and Westerfield Road.

From there it would turn into Tuddenham Road before arriving at the cemetery where Danny was due to be buried.

Mrs O'Connor, who has not felt able to come into Ipswich town centre since her son was fatally injured in an alleged street brawl on May 2, said she was unsure whether she could face following the cortege.

Danny died 10 days later in Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge from the head injuries he sustained following the alleged attack which occurred in Silent Street.

A fervent Arsenal fan, he was to due to be buried in his replica Gunners shirt, as a symbol of the team who meant so much to him.

N An Ipswich man, Dulu Miah, of Spring Road, is currently awaiting trial after being charged with the murder of Danny O'Connor.