London Bridge terror attack victims honoured at church services
The pair, both former Cambridge University students, were murdered by Usman Khan on 29 November.
Friday 20 December 2019 16:21, UK
Tributes have been paid to London Bridge terror attack victims Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones at their funerals today.
Saskia was honoured at a memorial service before her funeral in Stratford-upon-Avon.
A private service for family and friends to celebrate Jack's life was held in his home town of Cambridge.
Reading the tribute Rev Michael Price, deputy headteacher of Bloxham School, said Ms Jones, 23, was a "life-shaper", and "never forgotten".
There were readings by both Ms Jones' uncle, Phil Jones - who read Psalm 121 - and her mother Michelle who recited Nicole Lyons' I Hope That Someday When I Am Gone.
"I hope that someday when I am gone, someone, somewhere, picks my soul up off of these pages and thinks, I would have loved her," she said.
She added: "Thank you all for your love, thank you all for your support."
The service concluded with the playing of James Blunt track, The Greatest.
Mr Merritt's friends carried his wicker casket into a full to capacity church while This Charming Man by the Smiths played.
A booklet of tributes and photos of Mr Merritt, from Cottenham in Cambridgeshire, was handed to mourners.
Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave was present to play Into My Arms at the service's conclusion.
Flanked by two large posters featuring a photo of his smiling face, close friends and family remembered and joked about Mr Merritt's fashion sense, political passion, cooking, gym routine and the support he gave them.
His girlfriend Leanne O'Brien, who laid a hand on his casket as she walked to the front of the congregation of hundreds, said she and Mr Merritt had been "inseparable" and that he gave her "the best two and a half years of my life".
"He made me feel it was possible to achieve anything and everything," she said.
"I'll miss your big heart and how loved you made me feel.
"Most of all I'll miss a future that we had planned together."
Mr Merritt's father David told mourners the family had received letters from prisoners praising his son, whom they knew through the Learning Together rehabilitation programme.
David Merritt said: "Jack's death is a tragedy but his short life is a triumph," as he urged those in church to "never give up his fight".
The former Cambridge University students were killed by Usman Khan as they attended a prisoner rehabilitation event in London on 29 November.
The vice-chancellor of Cambridge University has asked students past and present to remember the values embodied by them both.
In an end-of-term email, Professor Stephen Toope described their work as "transformational" and said: "I ask that we do not let the manner of Saskia and Jack's deaths eclipse the manner in which they lived their lives - and helped others to do so.
"As we prepare for the holiday period, let us instead remember the values they embodied."
He wrote that the "spirit of the Learning Together programme, of which they were part, echoes clearly across the collegiate university".
"It springs from an indomitable belief in the power of education as a force for coherence and connection in an increasingly complex and fractious world," he said.
He wrote that the "unspeakably tragic loss" of Mr Merritt and Ms Jones "hurt us deeply" and that his sympathies remained with family and friends.
"It has been comforting to see how, at a time of tragedy, we have all taken strength from each other," he wrote.
"Far from diminished, our community is strengthened in its resolve to do what is right."