Ribbon tribute to dad Jake
I just thought it would be nice to give him a good send off. Lauren’s a single mum, I know how hard that is Nat Crofts
YELLOW bows have appeared in the streets of Atherstone in memory of a young father.
They are brightening up the town in tribute to Jake Palfreyman and they’ve even made it further afield with some popping up as far as the Lake District.
Thousands of pounds have been raised to support the family of the 21-yearold who died just a few weeks ago.
The community has rallied together to raise money for his funeral and his five-year-old son Riley.
Jake’s best friend Sian Watkins sold the bows and asked people to “plaster” them all over the town in remembrance of Jake and more than £2,250 has been raised so far.
It’s not just the bows that have raised thousands, Lister Road Fish Bar, where Jake used to work, had queues out the door on Sunday. The fish and chip shop put on a special menu and all money raised is going to funeral costs and Riley’s future. Staff worked for free to put the event on and it proved very popular and in just the three hours the menu was on, along with money put in a donation box, more than £1,800 was raised. A fundraising page set up by Nat Crofts, who is Riley’s mum Lauren Hutchin’s best friend, has raised the most for the cause, massively exceeding its original goal of £500. The money from the page has now been processed after it reached an impressive total of more than £2,500. That brings the total to at least £6,670, not including a range of donation boxes across the town and continued fundraising. Nat said: “Lauren is my best friend, we used to live next door to each other and I knew Jake quite well. “I just thought it would be nice for everyone to give him a good send off. Lauren’s a single mum, I know how hard that is.
“I thought of the idea and obviously I didn’t want to go ahead and do it without the family’s permission. They thought it was a really good idea and said Jake would have wanted money to go to Riley.
“I am just so happy I have helped the family, when I heard what happened I felt helpless, I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t know what to say.”
A 50-year-old man from Atherstone and a 31-year-old man from Coventry both arrested on suspicion of murder have been bailed until the end of June.
A 20-year-old man from Atherstone who was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder has been released under investigation.
Police are continuing to appeal for anyone with information about the incident to contact them.
Anyone with information that could help police with their investigation is asked to call 101 and quote incident 451s of May 28.
Alternatively, information can be provided anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via www. crimestoppers-uk.org