Joint funeral for couple in honeymoon tragedy

Emma and Jonathan Gray, both 25, died in a quad bike accident at the Kuredu Island Resort and Spa in the early hours of Saturday, August 6. They left a six-month-old baby son, Jake.

The funeral is being described as a “celebration for both their lives” and guests have been asked to wear bright clothing.

The service, which begins at Halifax Minster at 2pm, will be followed by a private burial. Donations can be made to Holy Trinity Primary School in Savile Park Road, Halifax, where Mrs Gray was a much-loved teacher.

Pupils and staff at Holy Trinity are being offered bereavement counselling when they return to school next week, after the summer holidays.

The school’s flag is currently flying at half-mast, and a memorial event is also set to be organised next month.

Mrs Gray, whose maiden name was Oldfield, was described as an “outstanding” young teacher while her husband, who was known as Jay, had worked up the ranks to become manager at a kitchen design firm in Mytholmroyd.

The couple had married a week prior to their death, at St Bartholomew’s Church in Ripponden and had then flown out to the Maldives for their honeymoon, leaving their baby son with family at home.

The couple first met as children, growing up in the village of Ripponden, and fell in love years later.

Mr Gray proposed to his then-girlfriend over the New Year of 2010 while the pair were in a horse-drawn carriage in New York’s Central Park.

Jake, was born in February this year and Mrs Gray had just returned to the job she loved following maternity leave.

It is thought that the tragic accident occurred while the Grays were being driven back to their room at the Kuredu Island resort after a night out.