A large crowd gathered in Belfast for the funeral of a five-year-old girl who died after contracting Strep A. 

Some wore rainbow-coloured ties and balloons were released as they said farewell to Stella-Lily McCorkindale.

Floral tributes, including ones shaped as an angel and a teddy bear, were placed outside her grandmother’s home in the north of the city ahead of the funeral on Wednesday afternoon.

More than a hundred people stood outside the terraced house as Stella-Lily’s pink coffin painted with rainbows and stars was taken outside after a funeral gathering.

The song Shake it Off by Taylor Swift was played before balloons of different colours were released.

The coffin was then placed into a carriage drawn by horses with pink plumes, which led a cortege on a slow walk to the nearby Shankill Road.

From there, mourners travelled on to Roselawn crematorium in the east of the city.

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Stella-Lilly died from an illness linked with Strep A on 5 December after being admitted to the Royal Belfast Hospital.

The deaths of 16 children since September have now been linked to the infection, and a further death in Wales is under investigation.

Stella-Lily was a pupil at Black Mountain Primary School, which last week described her death as a “tragic loss”.

“Stella-Lily was a very bright and talented little girl, and very popular with both staff and children, and will be greatly missed by everyone at school,” the school said in a statement.

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