Forbury Gardens attack: Father's pain at death of son two years on

“I can’t put it into words how much we miss him.”

That was the message from Gary Furlong, the father of James Furlong, following a memorial service to remember the three victims of the Forbury Gardens terror attack on the second anniversary of their deaths.

James, Joe Ritchie-Bennett and David Wails were all fatally stabbed by terrorist Khairi Saadallah on June 20, 2020.

Handout photo of James Furlong, one of the three victims of the Reading terror attack. 

Two years on from the shocking and horrifying attack, family members, friends and community figures came together to remember the trio in a moving memorial service at the Gardens.

Speaking to the Chronicle after the service, Gary Furlong revealed the impact James’s death has had on his family.

He said: “I can’t put it into words how much we miss him. James is the first thing I think of when I wake up and is the last thing we think of when we go to sleep.

“He was such a massive part of our life and 25 per cent of our family is not here now and it leaves a massive hole.

READ MORE: Family, friends and town comes together to remember Forbury Gardens victims

“People say ‘two years’, it’s still almost like last week for myself and Jan. We still live the nightmare.

“It’s difficult when people say time is a healer. We haven’t healed yet and I think we are a long way off that.”

The memorial service was a scaled-down event compared to 2021’s tribute, but relatives and community figures were still able to pay their respects at this year’s highly-emotional event during a minute's silence and by laying flowers.

Gary Furlong (far left) and family members pay respect to the victims

Asked why it is important the trio continue to be remembered at events such as these, Gary said: “This has affected family, it has affected friends, and you can see that by the emotion here tonight.

“It’s important that the community stays together, that the families stay together and the most important thing is that the boys are remembered and kept in people’s minds.

READ MORE: What has happened in the two years since the Forbury Gardens terror attack

“You don’t particularly always hear a lot about the Forbury Gardens attack in the news and I think it’s important that we keep it in news and the families are still having to deal with this.”

James Furlong was a ‘characterful’ history and politics teacher at The Holt School in Wokingham and Gary paid tribute to his son’s, Joe’s and David’s ‘key’ roles in the community.

He added: “He wasn’t only a teacher, he was moulding them [students] into good citizens, he was trying to give them their own thoughts and their own minds.

“They were from the LGBT community, but you had James who was a school teacher, and David who was a scientist, developing things to save the environment.

“You had Joe who worked in pharmaceuticals, he was trying to bring medicines in prior to Brexit when everyone was panicking we weren’t going to have medicines.

“They were three very key people in the community but most importantly, they were three very, very good men.

“We should remember them as being three very good, decent men.”