Fishing community remember Lauren with memorial match

The annual match, which is held on the Leeds Liverpool Canal — where Lauren used to fish — was held on Saturday and more than 80 anglers took part.

Lauren was 10-years-old when she was beaten to death in 2005.

Her killer, Kieron Smith, now aged 28, was jailed for life in January 2006 for her murder.

In her memory the fishing community come together each year to raise funds for Leigh Ospreys, which is a junior angling club, a cause chosen by her family and this year they raised £350.

The match was won by Rob Speakman who landed a 13lb six ounce fish.

The event is sponsored by Mark Grimshaw and Gregor McGarrie of Grimshaw Autos and Lauren's mum Alison said she "can't thank everyone enough".

Alison said: "Lauren used to always go fishing- she loved it.

"It means a lot to think that they still do things for Lauren, not that she will ever be forgotten but it keeps her memory going.

"I can't thank everyone enough for how much support they have given us.

"All the community have pulled together they have just been fantastic.

"It was great on the day, we go down every year to give the winners their trophies and I hope it will carry on."

Mr McGarrie of Grimshaw Autos said: "Paul Hughes who is a friend of the family and an angler led a minutes silence before the match and you could have heard a pin drop.

"All the anglers know about Lauren every one of them and fully support the family.

"We don’t dwell on the man that killed her, what we do is flip the coin and see what good we can bring.

"Alison comes down and gives the same picture of Lauren to us each year and we have it up in the garage for a couple of days and then it goes down to the match so she is there with us.

"Its majorly important that we keep doing the matches because Lauren’s family are just brilliant and it means a lot to them - they’ve stuck together really solidly.

"It doesn’t matter to us that it was the 10th anniversary this year, 10 is just a number — we will never forget her."