Funeral service for London Bridge victim Jack Merritt held at Great St Mary’s Church in Cambridge
The funeral service for Cambridge graduate Jack Merritt was held today (Friday, December 20) at Great St Mary’s Church.
A memorial service for Saskia Jones also took place today at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Jack, 25, from Cottenham, and Saskia, 23, from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, were killed by Usman Khan, 28, in the London Bridge terror attack on Friday November 29.
Jack’s friends carried his wicker casket into a full church followed by his parents Anne and David and brother Joe while This Charming Man by The Smiths played.
Paying tribute, his girlfriend Leanne O’Brien said Jack gave her “the best two and a half years of my life”.
“Jack fit perfectly into my life as well as that of all my family and friends just like I felt I fitted in his too,” she said, holding back tears. “Jack was my biggest support and my number one fan.”
“He made me feel it was possible to achieve anything and everything,” she continued.
“Jack, there are so many things that I’ll miss about you.
“I’ll miss your big heart and how loved you made me feel. But most of all I’ll miss the future that we had planned together.”
Jack’s brother Joe wrote in tribute: “I speak on behalf of friends, family, colleagues and even strangers who just read about you when I say, we love you Jack, and what a truly amazing human being you were. As a role model, political activist, friend, and most importantly a brother, there is no one greater than you.”
Eulogies were given by Jack’s friends and his father David, who said: “We can never replace Jack, but we will always be surrounded by the sense of him.
“Jack’s death is a tragedy, but his short life was a triumph.”
The service concluded with a commendation and farewell by The Reverend Canon Adrian Daffern.
He said: “It’s evident that truth and love always mattered to Jack and they have mattered here, and they matter more than ever.”
Among the mourners was musician Nick Cave, who performed Into My Arms at the end of the service.
John Crilly, who was pictured tackling the London Bridge terrorist with a fire extinguisher, was also among the hundreds of mourners.
Jack Merritt funeral service, Great St Mary's Church, Cambridge. Picture: Keith Heppell. (24789720)
Jack, from Cottenham, was a co-ordinator for Learning Together, the prison rehabilitation and education programme run by the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology.
It was at Learning Together’s five-year anniversary conference at Fishmongers’ Hall, on the north side of London Bridge, that Jack was stabbed to death.
Khan, who injured three others, was shot dead by police on London Bridge.
Jack attended Cottenham Village College and Hills Road Sixth Form, before reading law at the University of Manchester and then completing an MPhil at the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge, while attached to Hughes Hall, in 2017.
Read more:
Cambridge falls silent in memory of Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones
