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Glasgow bin lorry crash: Funeral held for three victims from same family killed while Christmas shopping

Erin McQuade, 18, and her grandparents Jack Sweeney and Lorraine were among six victims of tragic Christmas accident

Rose Troup Buchanan
Saturday 03 January 2015 12:43 GMT
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Mourners line the street after the requiem mass for Erin McQuade, Lorraine Sweeney and Jack Sweeney
Mourners line the street after the requiem mass for Erin McQuade, Lorraine Sweeney and Jack Sweeney (Reuters)

Three members of the same family killed in Glasgow’s bin lorry crash were buried today.

Hundreds of mourners gathered at St Patrick’s RC Church in Dunbartonshire to remember the lives of Jack Sweeney, 68, his wife Lorraine, 69, and their 18-year-old granddaughter Erin McQuade.

They were among the six people who died after an out-of-control bin lorry struck them on George Square, just three days before Christmas.

Ten people were injured in the accident which prompted an outpouring of grief across Scotland.

Jack Sweeney, left, and wife Lorraine Sweeney with their granddaughter, Erin McQuade

The Archbishop of Glasgow, Philip Tartaglia, celebrated the requiem mass, describing the deaths as "random, cruel and meaningless."

Jacqueline McQuade reacts following the requiem mass for her daughter and both her parents (Reuters)

Almost 700 people attended the service, which was followed by a private burial.

Among family and friends, Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson, Scottish Justice Secretary Michael Matheson and Jackie Baillie, the MSP for Dumbarton, also attended.

Primary teacher Stephenie Tait and Jacqueline Morton, both from Glasgow, and Gillian Ewing, from Edinburgh, were also killed.

Stephenie Tait and Gillian Ewing were among the six people killed when the bin lorry lost control (PA)

It is believed that the lorry driver – who remains in hospital – suffered a heart attack at the wheel.

A tribute in Glasgow, it reads: 'To the 6 angels I never knew. R.I.P. Sleep tight' (PA)

The lorry then travelled through the busy shopping centre of Glasgow for 300m, hitting pedestrians, before eventually crashing into the side of the Millennium Hotel in George Square.

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