Slain woman will have ashes spread in New Zealand

Mia Ayliffe-Chung (Mimi) was killed while backpacking in Australia. Photo / Facebook

The ashes of slain woman Mia Ayliffe-Chung will be spread in a number of countries including New Zealand.

The 21-year-old died after being stabbed to death during a frenzied knife attack at a north Queensland hostel last week that also left fellow Brit Tom Jackson dead, after a week spent in hospital in critical condition.

Rosie Ayliffe said that her daughter's ashes will travel the world so she can "visit places" she now isn't able to.

"I know some of her friends are struggling with that, because they wanted her body brought home and a cremation or burial here in the Wirksworth area, but she has friends all over the place," Rosie Ayliffe revealed.

"Hence the plan to create a place of remembrance here, but also to give various people vials of Mia's ashes to scatter in places dear to her or to them.

"That way she can visit places she hasn't visited yet. Canada, New Zealand, Singapore. People are making huge journeys to mourn her," her mother wrote.

It's alleged the man charged over the murder, French national Smail Ayad shouted out "Allahu Akbar" as he attacked Mia but police have said they had found no evidence the crime was terror related.

The funeral is expected to take place in Ms Aycliffe's hometown of Wirksworth in Derbyshire with close friends and family.

Conservative politicians have seized on the incident to call for a ban on Muslim immigration but Mia's mother has appealed for people not to misrepresent her daughter's death.

In a blog-post on the UK news website The independent, Ms Ayliffe says she is planning to include a reading from the Koran in a multi-faith funeral for her daughter in response to media attention given to Ayad's religion.

"After talking about the misrepresentation of Mia's death in the media as an act of terrorism on the part of an Islamic fundamentalist, the minister delivering the service suggested we include a Koranic reading, and he will find something suitable with a friend who is an Islamic scholar," she wrote.

Ms Ayliffe said her daughter was "essentially a buddhist" in terms of her outlook on life, while most of her family were Christian.

The service will incorporate elements from both religions as well as a Jewish text or song and a a reading from Mia's grandmother's religion, Swaminarayan Hinduism.

One of Mia's friends will also sing a song he learned with Mia, though Ms Ayliffe admitted to some hesitation's about the content of the song, which is about obsessive love.

"The song which immediately sprang to his mind is both about obsessive love, which is a little jarring given the circumstances of her death," Ms Ayliffe wrote.

"But Elliot learnt the song with Mia at his side and it has strong connotations of her to him. What to do? The decision was made as Nan Ruby loved the song, so it's in, with Elliot's careful amendments to avoid negative connotations."

Ms Ayliffe, who is planning to travel to Australia soon, admitted to feeling apprehensive about the media attention surrounding her daughter's death here.