SHE was a “striking and beautiful” daughter whose life was cut short at the age of just 17.

The devastated father of Hampshire student Emily Longley has paid tribute to the teenager as he prepares for her funeral this weekend.

Mark Longley said the popular youngster is hugely missed by her family and many friends and told how she was thriving on a business studies course at Brockenhurst College when her life was cut short.

A funeral service will take place at St Joseph’s church in Takapuna, on the north shore of Auckland, at 11am on Saturday, midnight on Friday night GMT.

Mark, who was brought up in England but moved to New Zealand eight years ago, said the family decided to return Emily’s body to New Zealand for her friends and members of the family.

“We had a service in Bournemouth but Emily has so many friends in New Zealand who have only experienced her death through the media,” Mark told the Daily Echo, in an interview from his New Zealand home.

“She lived here for eight years and was very popular – it will be nice for her friends to have a focal point and to get some closure,” he said.

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