THE pilot of a light aircraft which crashed in the Wicklow Mountains in October 2008 was the victim of a violent assault on the day before the accident, it has emerged.

An investigation into a light aircraft crash which killed a family last month is focusing on the weather conditions, it emerged tonight.

Hundreds of mourners gathered together tonight at a memorial service held for a family and a teenage friend who died after their light aircraft crashed in a remote mountain region.

Air accident investigators are at the site of the plane crash in Co Wicklow, in which four people were killed.