Traffic was brought to a standstill in a busy town centre yesterday as more than 200 mourners walked in a funeral procession as a tribute to a popular teenage schoolboy who is believed to have frozen to death in the snow.

A police car with a blue flashing light led the way slowly through Barnard Castle, Co Durham, following a requiem mass for 15 year old John Winter. Police vehicles halted other traffic.

Scores of John's friends from Teesdale Comprehensive School were in the procession behind the hearse and funeral cars, and many carried single roses to be placed on his grave.

Some of them had been at a disco with John in a community centre at Kinninvie near Barnard Castle this month before he set off to walk home on his own. He was later found dead in the snow in a field.

Sgt David Wray, in charge of the traffic operation, said, "We would normally like 14 days' notice of a procession of this size so we could close roads. In this case we had less than 24 hours. But we led the way and closed some junctions to ensure safety. All the walkers were responsible and it went smoothly."

Every seat was filled in St Mary's Roman Catholic Church in the town for the service, conducted by Father Wilfrid Elkin, and other mourners stood in the aisles.

Many teenagers in the congregation wiped away tears as Father Elkin described it as a sad and tragic occasion. He said everyone would have expected John to have a long life ahead of him but it had been suddenly cut short.

But he reminded the congregation that nobody, from a pauper to a prince, had a right to a long life. He said his parents, Mandy and Stephen, and others in the family, could take comfort in the fact that they would eventually all meet again.

John, a talented footballer of Zetland Road, Barnard Castle, hoped to become a professional player. Among the floral tributes carried into church was a black and white one shaped like a football.

The procession stretched for about 200 yards. It went along main roads for more than a mile between the church and burial ground. Coun John Hinchcliffe, who has lived in Barnard Castle all his life, said, "It is the first time I have seen such a procession after a funeral. It was a moving and dignified tribute to a well respected young man."

An inquest has been opened and adjourned. When it resumes it is expected that evidence will be given about what caused John's death.