Only the family and close friends of James Barker attended the service in the chapel of St George's College RC Junior School.

Head teacher, Father Martin Ashcroft, paid tribute to James who was a pupil at the private school until July 1997, the year he moved with his family to Ireland for a quieter life.

Father Ashcroft said: "James was outgoing, gregarious, had a very infectious smile and was a good runner.

"He was also quite severely dyslexic but very popular with his peers and his teachers and had to work hard to come to terms with his dyslexia."

In his sermon at the reburial service Father Ashcroft said everybody must hope the fragile peace in Ireland continues to grow.

James' parents, Donna Maria and Victor, decided to exhume James' body from a cemetery in Buncrana, Co Donegal, because they were unhappy the bodies of IRA members were also buried there.

They are also angry that no one has been brought to justice for the bombing by an IRA dissident group which killed 29 people in August 1998.

They decided instead to rebury James in the grounds of his former private school where he was a happy and popular pupil.

James' mother Donna Maria moved to Bruncana with James and his brother and sister while her husband, Victor, stayed in Surrey working as a solicitor three years ago.

The entire family will now move back to Ottershaw, Surrey, and James' brother, Oliver-Tristan, will start at St George's in September.

A memorial trophy donated to the school by James' parents will be awarded to pupils who have overcame some difficulty or handicap.

When the family decided to return to Surrey, they did not want to leave James' body in Ireland.

As the family brought James' coffin back to England last Thursday, they were escorted to the Irish border by the Gardai and then to the airport by the RUC.