The young friends of popular teenager Megan McAlorum huddled together in grief as hundreds gathered for the funeral of the 16 year old who had been brutally murdered just days before.
The community of west Belfast was in shock and it was a struggle to remain professional when faced with such raw grief.
That a teenager from a loving family who adored her had met such a terrible end was unthinkable.
That her killer, Thomas Purcell, himself still a teenager at the time, had inflicted such unspeakable violence on Megan, a tiny defenceless wee thing, was beyond shocking.
Over the next few years I got to know Megan's mother Margaret very well. Her home was a warm and welcoming one, her children adored her and despite her grief she was the type of woman who treated everyone as a friend.
There was always tea and a biscuit in Margaret's cosy Glen Colin home, pictures of Megan hung everywhere.
Much later I got to read the autopsy report that documented the injuries inflicted on Megan and contained other details that out of respect for her family and her memory I will never reveal but also never forget.
What I will say is having read that report I wonder if Thomas Purcell is capable of rehabilitation, and while he is still a young man I fear for the safety of any woman who crosses his path.
In 2006, I got to see Purcell, who looked much older than his years, from the press benches of Belfast crown court as he sat in the dock, completely emotionless. He pleaded guilty only as the jury were being sworn in having previously denied the murder.
In 2008, shortly before he was due to be transferred from Hydebank to Maghaberry prison having turned 21, he claimed he would be under threat there and was transferred to prison in England.
I rang Margaret to tell her that Purcell had been taken out of Northern Ireland. She was hurt and angry but channelled that anger into forcing the prison service into an apology and a change in the protocols of how victims were kept informed.
When Margaret passed away herself in 2017, her children spoke of their pride that their mother had put aside her own grief to help others in a similar situation.
I have thought of Megan often over the years, it was a case impossible to forget.
Her killer now free, only time will tell if he is capable of living a normal life, but my instinct tells me this is not the last time I will be reporting on the activities of Thomas Purcell.
