TEARS of sadness and anger were shed for murdered retired school teacher, Betty Yates, when mourners held a candlelit vigil near to her Bewdley cottage where she died.

More than 60 former pupils and friends came together at a bridge on Dowles Road yesterday evening, to lay flowers and leave messages describing their shock and sorrow at her death.

Those whose lives had been touched by the 77-year-old comforted one another and spoke of their disbelief at the murder of the grandmother, who was described by family as “vivacious” and “extremely caring”.

Verity Worthington, 29, of Kidderminster, was taught by Mrs Yates in year five of the former St John’s Middle School. She set up facebook page “RIP Betty Yates, the best teacher there was”, which currently has 520 friends. She used the page to organise the gathering.

Miss Worthington said: “It was really, really beautiful. In a way, it was comforting for everyone to be together to see the amount of flowers and to be able to share memories but people were very sad. There were a lot of tears. We just thought, hopefully, it could be a comfort to her family to see that she was really special and people wanted to remember her.”

She added: “There were, I think, at least four from my class and we hadn’t really seen each other since then and there were lots of memories shared. So many people are so sad about this. People can’t really believe it even now and I think being there made us feel it more. We were just so angry because she gave so much to so many people and that was her home and she loved her home.”

Miss Worthington had fond memories of her school days with Mrs Yates. “She wasn’t just your teacher, she really threw herself into it,” she explained, “She ran an after-school club called I Spy Club where we would play rounders and she would knit. She had a story blanket that she would share with us. We would pick a patch and she would tell us a story about it. It was just like we were one family. One girl said she was like a second mother to her as she helped her so much with her dyslexia.”

Mrs Yates’s body was found last Wednesday morning at Riverscroft, a remote cottage on a track about two miles from Bewdley. She had died of a stab wound during what police described as a “violent attack”.

Mrs Yates was active in the community and a member of Bewdley Civic Society and the Wyre Forest section of the University of the Third Age, as well as art, book reading and walking clubs.