Friends and family of a police officer who died while pregnant with twins gathered today to bid farewell to a “very special person”.

More than 100 officers and PCSOs lined the pathway to Barton Crematorium as a mark of respect for Pc Sarah Underhill.

The neighbourhood officer from Wallingford died at the John Radcliffe Hospital on October 5 after experiencing maternity-related complications with her twins Hannah Louise and James Thomas.

The funeral took place in three stages, beginning with a church service at St Michael and All Angels Church in Clifton Hampden, near Abingdon, followed by an official police funeral with full honours at St John's Chapel, Barton Crematorium, Oxford, and then a wake.

The congregation at Barton Crematorium heard from Pc Underhill's husband, Sgt Richard Underhill, how much his wife had been looking forward to becoming a mother.

He told how it had been the couple's dearest wish to start a family and spoke of their joy when they discovered Sarah was expecting twins.

Sgt Underhill added: "She would have been a wonderful mother and I know the twins will be a great sense of comfort and joy."

He said farewell to a “wonderful, generous person”, who he said had had great plans for their children and had been excited about holding and loving them.

He ended his tribute by saying: "Goodbye my sweetheart. I love you now and for always and you will live in my heart forever."

A eulogy, which was read by Chief Constable Sara Thornton, told how horse-mad Pc Underhill was born and raised in Oxfordshire.

The youngest daughter of Sybil and Arnold Whapham — and sister to Gillian and Claire — Pc Underhill had known from the age of seven she wanted to help change people's lives and she was destined to join the police force.

Ms Thorton told how she met the Pc in 2006 shortly after she saved the life of a man who had been shot twice. She said: "With little regard for her safety, Sarah and two colleagues gave first aid and kept the man alive.

"This was typical of her desire to help, to calmly make a difference to the lives of others.

She added: "Richard told me that as he left Sarah on the day before she died, she was so looking forward to becoming a mother — she was glowing.

"She would have been so proud of little James and Hannah.

"I am sure everybody here feels blessed to have been part of Sarah's life — a life that has so tragically been taken from us.

"We will all have our precious memories and we will find strength in those in the difficult times."