Tears for tragic terror victims Saskia & Jack
THE two victims of last month’s London Bridge terror attack were mourned at their funerals yesterday.
Saskia Jones, 23, and Jack Merritt, 25, were both much-loved Cambridge University graduates whose bright futures were cruelly snatched away, family and friends said.
Saskia’s private funeral in Stratford-upon-Avon was followed by a public memorial service attended by 400 mourners.
Rev Michael Price, who taught Saskia at school, said she was a “life-shaper” who will never be forgotten.
He praised her as “somebody who rolled up her sleeves and did something about it”.
Reading a moving tribute from her loved ones, he said: “The police were going to be so blessed by having a girl with all her talents. We cannot help but feel robbed.“
At Jack’s funeral in Cambridge, singer Nick Cave, 62, performed the final song, Into My Arms.
Family and friends spoke of Jack’s great kindness, compassion and empathy. Amy Ludlow, who set up the Learning Together prisoner rehabilitation programme on which Jack was a course co-ordinator, said: “We are heartbroken to lose you and we miss you so much. We will take forward your politics of love, with renewed hope and courage.” Writing in a book of tributes, brother Joe said Jack would want people to “work towards a more fair world”. He added: “He wouldn’t want this to defeat us, or stop us living our lives. Nor would he want it to be used to fuel Islamophobia and to push for harsher incarceration.” Pal Laura Suggitt said: “You were changing the world and you are still, that will never stop.” School friends wrote: “Jack was the one who introduced us to the world beyond the end of the high street: to music, festivals, culture, wit, politics, morality and honour.”