A FUND set up in memory of murdered Burnley aid worker Michael Blakey has raised almost £1,000 in just over a week.

Organisers behind the Michael Blakey Centre appeal hope to raise £20,000 so they can buy land and build hostels for children in Dhamrasala, India where Michael worked when he was killed.

An appeal was set up last week by Anna Owen, director of the Tong-Len charity in the UK, and the total is now more than £850.

Mrs Owen said: "We want to remember Michael by establishing the "Michael Blakey Centre" in Dharamsala.

"The centre will be a focus for the work that Michael was passionate about - addressing the needs of the homeless, the poor and the deprived communities of India.

"The £20,000 will enable Tong-Len to purchase the land on which to build hostels for children attending local schools, health clinics, and skills training workshops for the benefit of the communities in the Kangra valley that Michael was so concerned about."

Michael's body was found half buried under stones in a graveyard in the village of Mcleod Ganj in late November.

Pawan Bhardwaj, the Indian husband of Rachel Owen, Michael's co-founder of the charity's arm in India, has been arrested in connection with the death.

He was detained earlier this month and appeared in court again yesterday.

In an extract from his diary from October Michael said Bhardwaj had threatened to kill him because he thought he and Rachel Owen were having an affair - a rumour dismissed by both Michael and Rachel.

Michael, from Mayfair Road, Pike Hill, Burnley had been working for the Tong-Len charity which he helped to found two years ago along with a Tibetan monk and Rachel Owen, to help the region's poor.

An inquest into the death has been opened and adjourned and a funeral is expected to be held in the New Year.

The Michael Blakey appeal is online at www.justgiving.com/michaelblakey and will run until December next year.