THE face of a grieving little girl showed the true cost of bullying yesterday.

Christine Swift was at the Church of St Oswald in Hartlepool to say goodbye to her 15-year-old sister Elaine, a victim of school tormentors, who died after taking more than 100 paracetamol tablets.

Christine was only six in 1997 when Elaine donated bone marrow to save her from dying of leukemia.

From then on, because of the publicity her generous act generated, Elaine became the victim of constant name calling and abuse from other youngsters.

Elaine moved from Brierton School in Hartlepool to Dyke House in the town in the hope the bullying would stop. But it didn't.

Yesterday, parents Ben, 45, Fiona, 38, and sisters Heather, 19, Anne-Louise, 17, and ten-year-old Christine, comforted each other during an hour-long funeral service.

Hartlepool Sea Cadet member Elaine was given a guard of honour by other young seamen and women who knew her well.

And her coffin was decked out in her blue cadet cap as well as floral tributes from friends and family.

One from classmates at her former school read simply: "Night, Night, God Bless Elaine. We will always remember you" - Class 11A Brierton."

Father Brian Turnbull spoke warmly of the tragic teenager. He told about 200 mourners, many former schoolfriends of Elaine: "There is much to meditate on, not least is the numbing fact that a 15-year-old girl has been driven to despair, loneliness and fear as to take her own life.

"God does not bully - he only loves and waits. God loves and waits in silence, and whatever happened to cause Elaine to be so despairing was well known to the creator."

Father Turnbull said that to bully others was to "blaspheme God and to ignore God's image in one another".

And he added: "Elaine is thought of by many people as a hero, especially through her donation of her own bone marrow to save her sister's life.

"But I want to suggest that we can be very thankful and grateful to have known a young, teenage girl who showed great love.

"As we lay her to rest, perhaps it is for those of us who are left to remember that we can never be sure about why Elaine was driven to her death.

"We should also dwell on the need to make certain that we are not part of the bully culture, and that starts with stopping the pointing at others and blaming them."