FRIENDS and family will remember teenager Jayden Parkinson in a memorial service at at All Saints Church, Didcot, this afternoon. 

The service will feature an expression of thanks from the 17-year-old's mother Samantha Shrewsbury, a reading by her sister Sharday George and a tribute from Sue Harbert, a teacher at Didcot Girls' School, where Jayden was a former pupil. 

There will also be performances by Didcot Girls' School singers and an the Bishop of Dorchester The Rt Revd Colin Fletcher will address the service.

Then white balloons will be released in Jayden's memory.  

Ahead of the service Reverend Karen Beck said: "Everybody has been so shocked by this terrible tragedy. It is perhaps easy to forget the person behind that.

"The service will focus on Jayden and the person she was."

The 17-year-old went missing last month before being found buried in someone else’s grave at All Saints Church in Lydalls Road two weeks later.

Jayden’s boyfriend Ben Blakeley, 22, of Christchurch Road, Reading, has been charged with her murder and perverting the course of justice.

A 17-year-old Didcot boy is also charged with perverting the course of justice.

Both are in custody awaiting their next court appearance in March.