Father of Reading terror attack victim says the government must not let his death be in vain
Gary Furlong says the death of his son, James, must not be in vain, as ITV Meridian's Mel Bloor reports.
The father of a man who was murdered in a terror attack in Reading says the government must not let his death be in vain.
Gary Furlong's son James was stabbed to death by Khairi Saadallah in Forbury Gardens, along with Dr David Wails and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, on June 20 2020.
He has called for assurances from the Home Secretary that changes will be properly implemented.
He said: "I have to keep pushing this process for James' legacy, in James' memory that I do something to change the future, that I do something to save people's lives."
Saadallah was a failed asylum seeker from Libya and had a history of violent behaviour.
He was released from prison just two weeks before the attack.
He is currently serving a whole-life sentence.
Earlier this year, an inquest into the 2020 stabbings concluded the deaths were avoidable and found major problems with intelligence sharing between authorities.
Gary Furlong said: "At present, without massive investment, I have no faith whatsoever and the Judge Coroner Sir Adrian Fulford also stated he is not confident the changes will be there to make a significant effect on the future."
Speaking in the House of Commons, Home Office Minister Dan Jarvis said he was happy to meet the victims’ families to discuss changes.
Mr Jarvis said: "The Home Secretary and I are overseeing the implementation of commitments made in response to the inquest and we are determined that all the lessons learned from this terrible incident are acted upon."
Gary Furlong says "their actions will speak louder than any words".
He said: "It can't be one meeting, I think that there has to be a review of the process, it needs to be fed back to the families annually so I want there to be an ongoing process...
"James always said to me and his mum, you can't change the past, it's fixed but you can learn from the past and change the future."
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