HUNDREDS of mourners gathered in the rain to remember four children whose lives were cruelly cut short when their home was targeted by murderers.

As the rain started to fall, the brightly coloured coffins and pinks and blues of the mourners gave colour to the bleak day.

The coffins of Demi, aged 15, and her siblings Brandon, eight, Lacie, seven, and Lia, aged three arrived at St Paul’s Church in Walkden in glass-sided horse-drawn carriages.

The carriages were driven from the family home in Jackson Street, which became a focal point for the community’s grief in the aftermath of the arson attack.

MORE ON THIS STORY: Mourners gather to say goodbye to "little angels"

Demi’s coffin was decorated for her love for music, Brandon’s with characters from Marvel’s Avengers, Lacie’s was bright with My Little Pony and Lia’s showed her favourite TV character, Peppa Pig.

The siblings were accompanied on their journey to church by bagpipers and drummers and hundreds of mourners

The service, led by the Rev Gill Page, remembered each of the “four angels”, as they have become known.

The service began with a letter from Michelle, the children’s mother who was injured in the fire which claimed the lives of her children. Michelle had been hoping to attend the funeral but at the last minute it was announced she was too ill to attend.

A speech was read out on her behalf. She said: “Little Lia, cheeky, funny with big blue eyes and a smile that melted your heart.”

Ms Pearson remembered Lacie as someone who “loved to dance and sing”. Brandon was her “architect in the making, he promised one day he would build me a house”.

Demi was her “cheeky” daughter who looked after all the others.

Separate eulogies were read out for each of the four children, remembering Demi as “one of the lads” and joking about how she used to smuggle sweets into her bedroom despite her diabetes diagnosis.

Brandon was a technology lover, mourners heard. He would be furious if the internet went down, “no computer was the end of the world for him”, yet he stopped to smell the flowers. Brandon loved to pick flowers “even if they were in people’s gardens”.

The “little diva” of the family was Lacie who “danced from the moment she woke up to the moment she went to sleep”. She was going to be a Youtube star, the congregation heard and was “never camera shy”.

When little Lia was at home “Peppa Pig was always on”, the favourite TV show of the “loving and caring” three-year-old who is “with her dad now”.

The service featured popular songs including Ariana Grande’s Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Watch Me by Silento, Wings by Little Mix and Let It Go by Idina Menzel.

Ms Page concluded by saying: “Walkden will never forget these little angels. Demi, Brandon, Lacie and Lia Pearson — four siblings and four best friends.”

After the service the coffins were taken in their carriages to St Mary’s RC Cemetery in Wardley where they were interred during a private ceremony. A wake was held later.