Friends and family of dairy worker Brian Lane watched as his coffin arrived at his funeral service at Oxford's St Ebbe's Church on a milk float yesterday (December 20).

Two minibuses took mourners to the church for the service to pay tribute to Mr Lane, 51, whose body was discovered in the River Thames, near Folly Bridge, on November 29.

He had been reported missing five weeks earlier. His family and work colleagues launched a search and put up posters on milk floats, in Co-op100 stores and around Oxford.

Mr Lane was described by the Rev Pete Wilkinson as a "thoroughly good bloke."

He told mourners: "It is impossible for me to sum up the man you knew and loved.

"He was happy, friendly, a perfect gentleman, a thoroughly reliable and conscientious worker, who would go the extra mile to help others.

"He will be greatly missed by his family and his friends at the Co-op."

The service began with All Things Bright and Beautiful before Mr Wilkinson read out Psalm 23 and gave a short address.

The Christmas carol Silent Night was followed by a second reading from St Luke's Gospel.

Mr Wilkinson said prayers for Mr Lane, and his family and friends before the final hymn, Abide With Me, and the Lord's Prayer. Mr Lane's coffin was then taken from the church, on the Co-op milk float, to Botley Cemetery to be buried.

He lived in Friars Wharf, with his cousin Christine Jameson, 58, and her husband Bill, 60. He enjoyed working at Co-op Dairy in Osney, and would go to play bingo in east Oxford with Mrs Jameson.

Mr Lane was described as a creature of habit, who walked the same route from Friars Wharf to the dairy each day.

The alarm was raised when he failed to arrive for his 6am shift at the Midlands Co-op dairy depot in Osney Mead, where he had worked for 30 years, on October 23.

Efforts to find him included searches of the city's waterways by police divers and a colleague retracing his route to work.