THE haunting voice of a talented teenage music fan singing a love song as she was carried from the church along with her boyfriend was heartrendingly poignant.

Chloe Rutherford’s version of Somewhere Only We Know rang out from St Hilda’s Church in South Shields as the two white coffins were brought to the waiting hearses.

People stopped in the street to pay their respects, recognising the community’s sense of loss and immense sadness of the occasion.

Video: Chloe Rutherford’s version of Somewhere Only We Know was played at her funeral

Hundreds of friends and family had gathered to attend the funerals of the teenage lovebirds who so needlessly lost their lives last month’s terror attack in Manchester.

Chloe, 17, and Liam Curry, 19, were among the 22 people killed when a suicide bomber targeted the Ariana Grande concert.

Music was a big part of their lives, mourners were told, and they were carried into the church as One Last Time was sung by South Shields-born Stacey Ghent.

Father Chris Fuller, of St Hilda’s Church, said: “Chloe and Liam were, and still are, an image of love.

“They were inseparable in life. They have been inseparable in death and now they are inseparable with the angels of heaven.”

The Northern Echo:

'INSEPARABLE': Chloe Rutherford and Liam Curry

Liam knew Chloe because he played cricket with her brother, Scott, at Marsden Cricket Club.

They started dating after chatting on Facebook and quickly fell deeply in love with one another.

Liam, a former pupil at St Wilfred’s College and Gateshead College, was studying sport science at Northumbria University and hoped to become a policeman.

Chloe, who went Harton Technology College and studied music at Newcastle College, worked as a travel agent.

The couple had already announced plans to marry and have children, but before they settled down they wanted to begin their careers and see a bit of the world.

This Christmas they were going to go to New York.

Relatives have said they wanted to be ‘together forever’.

Ian Hunter, from the South Tyneside Humanists, who led the service, said: “She was his Juliet and he was her Romeo, with one big difference. Their families loved them both. They were made for each other. They could not bear to be apart.”

Mourners, many of whom wore blue and pink at the request of the families, were told the couple went to see Ed Sheeran at Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle in April and his song ‘Perfect’ was played to a tearful, contemplative congregation.

Tragically, by a twist of fate, it was also that love of music, which would, late on the evening of May 22, cut their lives so tragically short.

Mr Hunter said: “Ariana Grande was more Chloe’s favourite than Liam’s. I think her preferred to look at her.

“But he would go along anyway, mainly to look after his girlfriend and it is so poignant, terribly poignant.

“Please thank Liam for looking after you’, her mam texted Chloe.”

“It is too tragic and too sad. Here we all are now when we wish we weren’t.

“How to make sense out of something that is never ever going to make sense. How do you make the world turn again? How do you mend shattered hearts? So much grief to bear.”

Outside the church, the waiting funeral cars were filled with floral tributes spelling out "Son Liam" and "Sis".

A picture of a smiling young couple with their lives ahead of them had been placed by the roadside.

Mr Hunter said: “Today we have been sharing a love story, the story about two bairns who fell in love, two beautiful young people with so much love for each other and so much hope.

“Chloe and Liam came into this world with nothing at all, but they have left with nothing but love.

“They remain with us now, part of our lives for ever, and we have learned the greatest thing ever and that is to love and be loved in return.”