Hard-working Gary was a ‘remarkable person’
ALLEGED murder victim Gary Belfield was one of Amazon’s hardest working delivery drivers who amazed colleagues daily, his former boss has said.
The 40-year-old, who was found stabbed to death at his Gateshead home, spent many years working as a courier delivering parcels to homes across Tyneside.
While some drivers struggled to cope with the huge workload that came with delivering for home-shopping giant Amazon, Gary would complete his route without complaint and then be on hand to help others out, said Simon Turner who worked with him.
And, after two teenagers appeared in court accused of the dad’s murder, Simon has paid tribute to Gary and told how he regularly uses him as an example while training new drivers.
The 55-year-old said: “He was extremely hardworking. I do a lot of training and I always use Gary as an example to my trainees. It’s just so sad to think I’ll never see him again.
“He was a remarkable person. You could always rely on Gary. I will always refer to Gary when I’m training drivers, but it’s going to be so, so sad now he’s not here.
Simon, from Bedlington in Northumberland, first met Gary when they worked together at a depot in Washington. As lead driver Simon spent some of his time working from the office and was in charge of assigning routes to other couriers. And he instantly noticed that Gary would take on some of the more challenging jobs without complaint.
“I was Gary’s boss in a roundabout way. I got to know him very well,” said Simon. “It was my job to hand the routes out. In our team there was about 40 drivers going out every day.
“Gary had the biggest workload and did the worst routes. There was lots of high rise flats and he had to go up and down the stairs carrying big loads. He never ever whinged and he never complained. He was one of the hardest working drivers.”
When other drivers were running behind with their deliveries Gary, who was originally from Manchester, was always the first to help,” said Simon.
“At the end of the day we always wanted drivers to get away on time, but if someone had lots of deliveries left at 7pm, Gary would always go and help them and he would have it done in 10 or 15 minutes,” Simon said. “He was one of the fastest delivery drivers I have ever come across.
“He really, really did have a good work ethic.”
Simon said Gary would post a picture of his sandwich and drink during his lunchbreak every day and still finish his deliveries on time.
“Gary would always have between 130 and 170 drops, he always had the biggest route and would still be the first to finish every day. People would say; ‘How did Gary actually do that?’
“He was a very popular person. Everyone wanted to talk to him, he was very easy going. He never had a bad word to say about anyone.”
Simon and Gary worked together for around 18 months, before Gary parted company with the courier company he had worked for in 2022, Simon said.
Gary was found stabbed after emergency services were called to his home, on Elliott Drive in Felling, at just after 9.10pm on Saturday April 27. He was pronounced dead at the scene soon after. Another man, in his 20s, was also found injured at the home. He was taken to hospital but has since been discharged.
Detectives probing Gary’s death have made eight arrests. A 17-yearold boy and a 15-year-old girl appeared in court last week charged with murder. Another 17-year-old boy has also been in court accused of attempted murder. Two men and three women, aged between 21 and 51, were released on bail.
Anyone with information should call Northumbria Police on 101, quoting reference NP-202404271086.