Manchester comes to a standstill for funeral of murdered Pc Fiona Bone

Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable, Sir Peter Fahy, salutes as the coffin of Pc Fiona Bone, one of the two policewoman murdered in a gun and grenade attack, is carried into Manchester Cathedral (PA)

For the second time in 24 hours, the centre of Manchester came to a standstill today for the funeral of one of the policewomen killed last month in a gun and grenade attack.

Several thousand officers lined the main road as the cortege bearing the body of Pc Fiona Bone was carried to Manchester Cathedral where a colleague paid tribute to the "brave rock of a woman" killed on September 18.

Ms Bone, 32, was planning her wedding and had become the adopted parent of her partner's five-year-old daughter when she was killed along with her colleague Pc Nicola Hughes, whose funeral was held yesterday, when they attended a call to an apparent burglary.

Sergeant Stephen Miskell told mourners: "Fiona was wonderful. She was wonderful at keeping colleagues' spirits high with her bubbly nature. She was wonderful about caring for others.

"Fiona represented the best that humanity has to offer the world but that makes her loss even greater. Fiona was a woman of many contrasts. She was a calm and a gentle little bookworm, and yet a strong, brave rock of a woman."

After the end of the hour-long service, police officers formed a guard of honour as her coffin was carried outside topped with her hat, black leather gloves and medal.

The chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, Sir Peter Fahy, said: "Like all new officers she saw life at its most raw, was alongside people at the worst moment of their lives and like all young officers no doubt protected her parents from the full story of what she saw and what she dealt with.

"While others often seem obsessed with policing in films, crime novels and fly on the wall documentaries, Fiona did it for real."