Families who have lost loved ones in tragic circumstances gathered for their fourth memorial service in the North-East at the weekend.

The inter-denominational service, at St Mary's RC Catholic Church in Newcastle, is now an annual opportunity for grieving relatives to pray, remember and honour the life of their family member whose life has been taken.

Families from as far as Scarborough and Liverpool attended Saturday's service, led by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, the Right Reverend Kevin Dunn.

Following the service he joined families who symbolically released balloons in the Cardinal Hume Memorial Garden outside the cathedral.

He said: "Let these balloons be a tribute to our loved ones, especially to our children, so tragically taken.

"They will never be forgotten."

Later, he said: "This has become an important occasion for the families, they gain support from each other.

"It helps to remind them they are not alone, and they can all give thanks to the lives of their own and other loved ones."

The service was organised by the North of England Victims' Association, whose chairman is David Hines. His 13-year-old daughter, Marie, was murdered in 1993.

As his and other families lit commemorative candles, he said: "We light a candle in memory of them, we do so in gratitude that they lived."

Among those remembering the lives of a loved one was Ann Ming, who fought to overturn the double jeopardy law following the killing of daughter Julie Hogg in 1989, and June Richardson, whose son, Martin Brown, was a victim of child killer Mary Bell, in the late 1960s.

The service is timed to coincide with the start of European Victims' Week.