Westminster victim Leslie laid to rest
MOURNERS gathered yesterday to remember Westminster attack victim Leslie Rhodes.
The 75-year-old, said to have cleaned the windows of former prime minister Winston Churchill, was remembered as “a gentleman”.
He was hit when Khalid Masood drove a rental car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before fatally stabbing PC Keith Palmer, 48, on March 22.
Three other pedestrians died while 50 people were injured.
Leslie, from Clapham, south London, died at King’s College Hospital the following night when life support was withdrawn.
Nigel Desborough, of Forest Hill Community Church, spoke on behalf of the family at the funeral.
He told the congregation: “He was a very private man, he was very shy but extremely kind.
“He was popular, such a gentleman. He would do anything for anyone.”
Music at the service at Morden cemetery included These Are The Days Of Our Lives by Queen, and Elvis Presley’s version of My Way. Gareth Lloyd, an ear, nose and throat surgeon, was invited to the service by the family, after they heard how he tended to Leslie as he lay injured on the ground.
The doctor said: “Today was an opportunity to do something we don’t do very often in medicine, which is see the wider picture of some of the patients we treat.”