FAMILY and friends have bid a tearful farewell to a popular couple who died after a fire at their home.

Hundreds of mourners poured into Longfield to pay their respects to Fred and Sharon Purnell, who both died following the blaze at the family’s Main Road home.

Mr Purnell, 67, died at the scene despite desperate attempts by neighbours to save him, while his wife was rescued by firefighters and rushed to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. But the 52-year-old did not recover and died five days later, on January 3.

The couple were described as “Longfield icons” in a service at St Mary Magdalene Church on Monday.

Among those saying their last goodbyes was the pair’s 12-year-old daughter, Nikita, who was left orphaned by the fire.

The youngster, clutching a teddy bear, headed a procession which wound its way from Station Road to the church, where the couple were laid to rest together just a few hundred yards from their home.

She had also helped design the front page of the order of service, writing her parents’ names and the message “In loving memory” with six kisses around a picture of all three together at her birth.

Tributes during the service described Mr Purnell, a former navy diver and tree surgeon, as a “terrific friend with a fantastic sense of humour”. Others spoke of his love for motorbikes and bike rallies, where he was affectionately nicknamed “Tarmac”, because he kept falling off.

Mrs Purnell, a former care worker and member of staff at Bhs, in Gravesend, was described as a doting mother and devoted wife, having spent the last two years helping her husband battle cancer.

One of the couple’s closest friends, and their daughter’s Godfather, Gerald Temple, battled through tears to say his own goodbye.

Mr Temple, who has been entrusted to look after Nikita, said: “The best way to sum up their relationship is they couldn’t live with each other, and they couldn’t live without each other. They were made for each other and they loved Nikita more than anything else in the world. She was the cement that bound them together.”

He added: “They were Longfield icons.”

Instead of offering flowers at the funeral, mourners were asked to make contributions to the Ellenor Lions Hospices, which had helped the couple during Mr Purnell’s illness.