A thanksgiving service for horse expert Derek Larkin from Biddestone is to be held on Friday, April 26.

A statement from Mr Larkin’s family reads: “We, Derek’s loving family, have been simply overwhelmed by the vast amount of heartfelt good wishes from so many people who felt blessed to have Derek enrich their lives in so many ways.

"Be their involvement with Derek large or small, his effect on people was always significant.”

They are welcoming anyone in Mr Larkin’s life - friends, neighbours, work colleagues, or anyone who feels they want to share this time with them - to celebrate the breadth and depth of his life in the service.

It will be held at St Nicholas’ Church on Church Street in his home village of Biddestone at 2pm.

Mr Larkin, 32, was assistant manager at Biddestone Stud, where he had worked for four years and was a popular and respected figure in the bloodstock industry.

He lived with his wife Laura and one-year-old daughter Niamh at Biddestone.

Mr Larkin was found hanged on April 3 in an outbuilding in Slaughterford a week after he was accused of running a spoof Twitter account, @lordwarren, satirising the Queen’s racing horse manager John Warren.

Mr Larkin’s funeral, a Catholic Mass, will take place this Wednesday in Ireland, at the Church of St Columbanus in Ballivor, County Meath at 11am.

He will be buried in Ballivor Cemetery.