A funeral mass was held today for Father Patrick Emmanuel, who died in a fire at his home.

Parishioners packed the small modern Church of the Immaculate Conception in Edith Avenue, Peacehaven, to say goodbye to the man they knew as Father Pat.

Firemen found the body of the Sri Lankan-born Roman Catholic priest in the bathroom of the presbytery after a fierce blaze early on April 12.

His home backed on to the church, where he had been since 1998.

Mayor of Peacehaven Stewart Murray and Albion footballer Kerry Mayo, and his wife, also called Kerry, were among those at the service. Father Pat had married the couple and they had become close friends.

The funeral was taken by Monsignor John Hull, Administrator of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, and Canon Seamus Heston, who has been in charge at the Peacehaven church following the tragedy.

A requiem mass was organised for this afternoon at Fr Emmanuel's former church, St Joseph's in Redhill, Surrey, after the Peacehaven mass.

The priest would have been 50 next week. He was educated in Sri Lanka and India and ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Kandy in 1975, but fled the country in 1983 because of the political situation.

His body will be taken back to Sri Lanka.