The school of the two children killed by carbon monoxide gas while on holiday in Corfu has joined in prayers Monday as the mother flew back to the UK with their bodies.

The local vicar attended the school assembly Monday morning at the invitation of Horbury Primary School's head teacher John Wright.

Mr Wright described Christianne Shepherd, 7, and her brother Robert, 6, as "two beautiful children who added so much to our school".

The mother of the two children, Sharon Wood, 35, flew back to the UK with the bodies of her children yesterday as millions of children up and down the country returned to school after the half-term break.

The children were flown to the UK by a Thomas Cook plane accompanied by their mother who had earlier visited the hotel bungalow where the children died and the hospital where Mr Shepherd and Ms Beatson are being treated.

Christianne and Robert were found dead in the holiday bungalow they were sharing with their father, Neil Shepherd, 38, and his partner Ruth Beatson.

Ms Beatson was also poisoned by the fumes while Mr Shepherd remains seriously ill from the fumes, believed to have leaked through to their bungalow from an apparently faulty boiler in an adjacent room.

Mr Shepherd remains in intensive care although he is now conscious. Ms Beatson has been moved to a regular hospital room. Both have been informed of the children's death.