Peaceful tribute was paid to a heroic Fife soldier in a memorial service the day after ugly scenes at his funeral.
Police were called to the graveside of Private Mark Connolly as his mother Linda McComiskie shouted at his widow Stacy in Forfar on Friday.
But a service in his home town of Methil on Saturday passed without incident, and mourners heard of the soldier’s proud and loyal service in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The trouble at the Newmonthill Cemetery in Forfar followed a lengthy and bitter dispute between mother and daughter-in-law over where the Black Watch soldier should be laid to rest.
Pte Connolly, 24, who fought in Afghanistan, died in May 2011 after squaddie Paul McKay knocked him to the ground with a punch in a pub in Germany where they were stationed.
His body remained in a morgue in London until a court ruled he should be buried in Forfar as his widow wished.
A floral tribute flung in the bin on Friday was in Wellesley Parish Church on Saturday as around 100 people paid their respects with the soldier’s family, including his mother, and step-father Les Sneddon.
Minister the Rev Gillian Paterson, who comforted Mrs McComiskie at the cemetery, said the family was very upset by events at Mark’s graveside after they were turned away from the service in the Royal British Legion.
She said: “All we wanted was to see Mark laid to rest with full military honours.”
The service was held to allow friends and family unable to travel to the humanist funeral in Forfar to say farewell to Mark in Fife.
Tributes to Mark from some of his Black Watch comrades were read out, describing him as a soldier who always watched others’ backs.