A SOLITARY bouquet of flowers and a simple message summed up the grief of Burnley at the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

The message attached to the flowers read: "Holly and Jessica, you have touched the heart of the nation, your smiling faces have gripped the world, you were only shortly known but never forgotten. Sleep soundly in heaven girls."

The tribute was left by an anonymous well-wisher on the gates of the town hall in Manchester Road. Web sites and books of condolence have recorded thousands of messages of grief following the murder of the Cambridgeshire youngsters.

An inquest into the 10-year-old's deaths was opened and adjourned yesterday.