MOURNERS gathered today for the second funeral of five women killed in Ipswich.Family and friends of mother-of-three Paula Clennell travelled to Berwick-upon-Tweed on the border of Northumberland and Scotland for what police described as a private ceremony.

MOURNERS gathered today for the second funeral of five women killed in Ipswich.

Family and friends of mother-of-three Paula Clennell travelled to Berwick-upon-Tweed on the border of Northumberland and Scotland for what police described as a private ceremony.

Among those present was also due to be Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Hudson, the senior officer heading up the inquiry into the 24-year-old's death.

Miss Clennell's funeral was due to take place this afternoon at Tweedmouth Cemetery, Cemetery Lane.

The family have asked to be left alone to grieve on what will be an emotionally distraught day.

Miss Clennell is understood to have grown up in Berwick-upon-Tweed but moved to East Anglia ten years ago as a teenager after her parents, Brian, a civil engineer, and Isabella, a dental nurse, separated.

It will be second funeral this week following the burial of Annette Nicholls at the Millennium Cemetery in Ipswich on Tuesday.

Paula's friends and family in Suffolk are continuing to remember her by placing flowers in her memory at the spot where her body was found.

In front of a huge block of concrete alongside the old Felixstowe Road at Nacton - just a 100 yards from where the body of Annette was found - flowers have been placed, alongside two wooden crosses and messages of love.

Primulas, daffodil bulbs and snowdrops have been planted in the ground, and some flowers placed in vases.

In the leafless trees, pink cards with messages from a child called Jade have been tied and flutter in the breeze.

Among the messages is one from Paula's sister Alice, which reads: “I will always love you Little Sis, sleep well and enjoy being free, lots of love Alice.”

A poem says: “If tears could build a stairway, and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven, and bring you home again.”

Meanwhile the barrister appointed to defend Steve Wright, the man accused of murdering Miss Clennell, Tania Nicol, 19, Gemma Adams, 25, Anneli Alderton, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29, has said he is “confident” his client will deny the charges.

Karim Khalil QC, said: “I am confident there will be a trial. It will be a huge case but there's a long way to go.”

Mr Khalil confirmed meetings had been held between Wright, 48, of London Road, Ipswich, and his defence team but said he had yet to visit the former forklift truck driver in Belmarsh Prison, south east London.

Wright is due to reappear at Ipswich Crown Court for the next hearing of his case on May 1.