A seven-year-old girl who died from a brain tumour less than a year after being diagnosed will be laid to rest tomorrow with a funeral cortege pulled by 'unicorns'.

Laia Jenkins became ill in September last year and was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour just four days after celebrating her seventh birthday.

The brave little girl was given radiotherapy treatment which shrunk the Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) tumour by two-thirds, and was able to enjoy a trip to Disneyland Paris with her family, as well as meeting 'real' Santa Claus in Lapland just before Christmas.

And at the end of January she was well enough to go on holiday to Grand Canaria with her family.

But she died on April 30 in a hospice, with her parents, Lee, 43, and Lorna, 40, and two of her sisters by her bedside.

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Proud dad Lee, described his youngest daughter as a 'fighter' and said the end of her life was as peaceful as it could have been.

She will be taken to the Holytown Crematorium in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, in a funeral cortege pulled by horses dressed as unicorns, and laid to rest in a religious ceremony - because Laia loved the idea of God, although the family are not religious.

The procession will go via her primary school, and a piper will play in the street in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire.

Dad-of-four Lee said: "It was expected but you are never actually ready for it.

"For the past one-and-a-half to two months we were spending half the week at home and half the week at a hospice.

"It has given us peace of mind.

"By the end she had lost her mobility and her speech, for the past month she had been trapped inside herself.

"Her wee best pal has locked himself in his room, he is saying 'she's my best friend, not God's best friend, he can't have her'.

"We were hoping for a miracle but the doctors knew she had no chance.

"We went to Disneyland Paris and she loved it, she went on all the rides.

"The first time she got not well, she started talking about losing me - it was as if she knew.

"When she got better she got a smaller wheelchair but she started asking for her old wheelchair back, as if she knew she needed it.

"She loved the idea of church and she spoke about God all the time, when we went to services you could always hear her voice.

"I'm not a religious person but she loved it and we want to have a church service when it's possible to do so."

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At Christmas Laia was given a Shitzu puppy, named Freddie, who became a doting companion to her and slept in her bed.

Lee added: "He never left her side, or her lap, or her bed.

"That's what she wanted for Christmas.

"She was a warrior, a wee princess - deep down she was a fighter, you could always see that in her.

"She had radiotherapy every day for seven weeks and it just didn't phase her at all.

"It could have been a lot worse, she could have been in a lot of pain.

"We got her to hospital when we did, we got her started on radiotherapy when we did, we got to Grand Canaria, we got that time and it was peaceful at the end.

"There are a lot of positives and we there have been a lot of people who have helped us from the local community."

Laia died at Robin House Hospice, in Balloch, West Dunbartonshire, with Lee, Lorna, and sisters Shannon, 24, and Chloe, 21, around her.

Her other sister, Ellie, 13, was considered too young to be there.

Lee described his daughter's death as 'the natural order of things' - but said he expected a wave of grief to hit him when he began to miss his daughter.

He added: "In a way it was a relief.

"I don't know when I expected it in my head, but I must have accepted it.

"Later when I start to miss her it might be different.

"She went quickly and peacefully, we were all there."