Chloe Mitchell murder Ballymena: Kirstie Mitchell laments that she will never get chance to tell her sister ‘how much I really loved you’

Brandon John Rainey, 26, from James Street in the Co Antrim town, appeared via video link at Ballymena Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

"My beautiful baby sister, there are no words to even describe how I feel," Kirstie said on social media. "My heart is so sore. I'll never get the chance to tell you how much I really loved you no matter what. Not only has my sister been taken away from me but my kids have lost their auntie and they will never forget you.

"I'll tell them stories about you and talk about you all the time."

She added: "I hope you can look over us all and help us through this. None of us will ever be the same without you. I hope you are at peace, this world is too cruel."

Local MP Ian Paisley said the mood in the town is "very sombre" in the wake of the news.

"There is a dark shadow of grief over the town," he added. "That a young woman could be murdered is just appalling, especially after so much hope that she would be found - given the search - but that has turned to despair.

"We now must pray for the family at this awful time of grief and hope we can see justice."

Independent councillor Rodney Quigley said there is "a lot of shock and sadness" in Ballymena.

"The community is just numb," he said. "There was always that hope that she would be found alive. But now that hope has been dashed there is a real sadness - and not just in the Harryville area. It has hit the whole town.

"People are deeply shocked that this has come right to our doorstep."

He acknowledged that the murder was reminding people of two similar but unrelated murders in the town - those of Julie Tenant and Shirley Finley.

"I can remember them - obviously it opens old wounds in people," Mr Quigley said.

In 2002 Adrian William Hayes was found guilty of murdering County Antrim woman Julie Tennant in his Ballymena home.

Originally from Broughshane in County Antrim, he had denied murdering the 21-year-old in August 2000.

Then in 2009 a man who strangled a vulnerable young Ms Finlay in Ballymena was sentenced to at least 20 years in jail.

Polish national Henryk Gorski, 52, also attacked his victims, Ms Finlay, 24, in his Ballymena flat.

But the councillor spoke highly of people who live in the area where Chloe's remains were found.

"There are a lot of good people who live in that area - a lot of settled people have lived there for a long time," he said.

"I know quite a few people who live in that area. I have a very good friend in his late eighties who lives on his own there."

He lives close by to where the police have cordoned off a house and is "in shock like everybody else," he added.