Young people will be helped by fund in memory of killed PC
THE parents of a policewoman who was stabbed to death by her boyfriend have set up a memorial fund to help young people.
Money was collected in memory of Melissa after she was found dead at her home in Oakham in January, 2007.
Her parents Derek and Gillian Ward had been hoping for 600 to buy a memorial bench and were stunned when a fundraising dance raised 5,000.
Now the couple, of Stamford End, Exton, are planning a Dragon's Den style event for groups which help young people in Rutland to bid for a share of the remaining cash.
Derek, 64, said: "Most of the groups we have already supported are aimed towards young people and helping them to develop in the right direction. Although Melissa didn't have her own children she always cared a lot about them.
"At this time of year she would be busy carving out a pumpkin to put in the window or buying Christmas lights for the garden.
"She was always thinking about the kids."
The event is likely to take place in January.
The 3,800 still available will be boosted by profits from a halloween party at Greetham Valley golf club last night and a marathon run by one of Melissa's friends, Darren Smith of High Crescent, Great Casterton, in the spring.
Derek said: "Darren has been the driving force in much of the fundraising. None of us is prepared to let Melissa's memory die.
"We are very open to all suggestions as long as the basic idea is to help young people."
The next milestone for the family will be installing a memorial bench in Braunston, where Melissa lived for a while. They hope to do this on November 13, which would have been Melissa's 30th birthday.
She was living at The Sidings in Oakham at the time of her death and working as a probationary police officer at Welford police station in Leicester. She was just six months away from graduating as a fully fledged officer.
Melissa had moved to Oakham in the summer of 2006 after living in Braunston where she was a regular at The Old Plough.
She met Benedict Marlow while living there when he was working as a chef at The Blue Ball pub.
An inquest found that Marlow had stabbed her to death before turning the knife on himself.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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