THE parents of the murdered lawyer Tom ap Rhys Pryce said yesterday that they pitied and forgave his killers.
John and Estella ap Rhys Pryce, who are devout Christians, said that they believed their son’s murderers were “not intrinsically evil”.
The couple have set up a trust as a memorial to their son, a high-flying lawyer with the City firm Linklaters. It is hoped that the charity, which has already received £350,000, will raise more than £1 million to help to educate impoverished children.
Mr ap Rhys Pryce, 31, was stabbed to death two weeks ago as he walked to the home he shared with his fiancée Adele Eastman, also 31, in Willesden, northwest London. The couple were to marry in Tuscany this autumn. Two teenagers have been charged with murder.
Mrs ap Rhys Pryce said yesterday that she believed every child needed a good education and moral guidance. Referring to whoever killed her son, Mrs ap Rhys Pryce said: “If they had been educated properly, given the right moral training, they would not have done this. No doubt there is some reason for what they did. I feel very sorry for them.”
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Mr ap Rhys Pryce added: “It is difficult to connect to the people who do this. You find it hard to hate something you cannot understand.”
His wife said that the loss had been a huge test of their faith, yet had strengthened it.
She added that while many had thought she would harbour anger towards those who had killed her son, she felt none.
Mrs ap Rhys Pryce, a piano teacher, remains determined that the British legal system should run its course and those responsible for the death should be brought to justice.
The couple had been woken at 4.15am at their home in Weybridge, Surrey, when Michael, their elder son, travelled there to tell them that Tom had been murdered. He had been telephoned by Ms Eastman.
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Recalling the moment he opened the door, Mr ap Rhys Pryce said in an interview with the London Evening Standard that at first he had thought that something had happened to Michael himself. “He was very, very upset. He was in a desperate state — and then told us Tom was dead. When you hear something like that you really can’t take it in.”
Mrs ap Rhys Pryce continued: “We were like three wolves howling.”
Tom was born in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire. When he was three the family moved to Somalia, where his father, a civil engineer, was working to build a sugar factory. After 18 months they returned to Hertfordshire, later moving to Surrey.
Tom was an inquisitive and boisterous child. His mother said that while at first he was not the best behaved schoolboy and his reports were not always glowing, it soon emerged that he was talented and needed challenging. When he rose to the extra demands, he calmed down and shone as an outstanding pupil.
In his early teens he won an academic and music exhibition to Marlborough College and at the age of 16 was awarded a scholarship to continue his studies there. A naturally gifted musician he went on to secure a Grade Eight in violin and sang in the school choir.
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After obtaining three grade A passes in his A levels Tom read classics at Trinity College, Cambridge. While there he won another scholarship to study Indian art and its Greek influences. After graduating with a first and studying for a masters, he joined Linklaters as a trainee in 2000.
Only since his death and the outpouring of admiration for him from his colleagues have his parents realised how successful he was. He had been modest about his professional achievements, his mother said.
Referring to Ms Eastman, the Farrer & Co solicitor whom their son fell in love with four years ago, Mrs ap Rhys Pryce said that it had been clear all along that she was the girl for him.
Mr ap Rhys Pryce added: “The really sad thing is he had mapped out their life in terms of family and that is not going to happen now. His life just got cut off in such a sudden, violent instant. Everything you thought was going to happen is not going to happen.”
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Donations, made payable to The Tom ap Rhys Pryce Memorial Trust, should be sent to: Caroline Batho, Linklaters, 1 Silk St, London EC2Y 8HQ. Or visit www.tomaprhyspryce.com