Prayer vigils for murdered Scottish backpacker Karen Aim have taken place on opposite sides of the globe as police in New Zealand continue the hunt for her killer.

In her Orkney home yesterday, Miss Aim’s father Brian joined 100 worshippers at the kirk in Holm to pray for a speedy investigation and the return of his daughter’s body to Scotland.

In Taupo, New Zealand, 100 friends and townspeople gathered at the place where the 26-year-old was found, in what police have descibed as a “ghastly” murder.

The Reverend Miriam Gross, of East Mainland Parish on Orkney, told worshippers: “It strikes us hard that she has been taken from us. We are all shocked by the death of Karen and what happened to this cheery, positive young woman. It feels like being frozen in the middle of whatever we might have been doing. Time stands still here and nothing will be the same again.”

Full story at The Scotsman.

• Filed under Australasia, Church of Scotland, Crime, Highlands + Islands, Scottish Christian News Monitor.