Duchess joins mourners at Mullany memorial service
The newly wed’s slaughtered on the last day of their honeymoon were remembered today in a memorial service led by the same rector who married them only a couple of months ago.
Catherine and Ben Mullany both 31 from Pontardawe Wales were on honeymoon in Antigua when they were both shot at close range by what is believed to be a botched robbery on their honeymoon apartment. Mrs Mullany died instantly her husband was first transported back to the UK but also died a few days later. Over 900 people packed the cathedral in Cardiff to remember the couple who were buried in a private ceremony last month.
The service was attented by the Duchess Of York who had met the couples families on a flight to Antigua after the tragedy had occurred. The Duchess Of York was on her way to a family holiday with her two daughters when she began talking with the couples families on the flight and was said to be so touched by the pain the families were going through that she read a reading by WB Yeats at the service and agreed to donate £10.000 to the memorial fund set up by the families in memory of the couple.
The Duchess Of York also agreed to be the charity’s patron and said the couples parents had received postcards from the couple after they were killed and that it was devastating for them to be taken at such a young age. She said as a mother I was so touched by the tragedy there were so much the couple wanted to do with their lives.
Ben Mullany’s brother Adam pad tribute to his brother at the service saying “Ben was my brother and best friend. I always wanted a sister and thanks to Ben I got one”. Mrs Mullany was remembered as a happy bride.
The fund set up by the families of the couple is to help support future Doctors as the couple were both involved in the medical profession Catherine a Doctor and Ben a trainee physiotherapist. Four people are facing charges in Antigua for the robbery. 10/09/08 Reported by C Yildiz -England West Yorkshire
FLIGHTS TO BODRUM DALAMAN
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