HUNDREDS of mourners lined the streets as a father who died during a police arrest was laid to rest.

The Mill Hill area of Blackburn ground to a halt as the last respects were paid to 40-year-old John Gardiner.

A horse-drawn hearse, a carbon copy of the one used in London gangster Ronnie Kray's funeral last year, carried the coffin to the service at St Peter's Church, where Mr Gardiner used to be an altar boy.

More than 400 people followed the hearse from Blackburn Funeral Services, New Wellington Street, Mill Hill, to the church and on to Pleasington Cemetery. A spokesman for the funeral directors said: "I don't think Mill Hill has ever seen a funeral like it."

The impressive hearse, pulled by four black horses, was sent north from London company T Cribb and Sons.

Dozens of wreaths, one in the shape of a weight-training barbell, were laid at the cemetery in memory of the former karate black belt who died as he was being arrested in Glenluce Crescent, Blackburn, on May 10.

The Police Complaints Authority is investigating the circumstances surrounding Mr Gardiner's death and his family is understood to have consulted a solicitor.

Mr Gardiner, who lived alone in Hozier Street, Blackburn, leaves two children, Shaun and Liam, and three brothers.

A jury inquest is due to be held into Mr Gardiner's death later this year.

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