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THE FATHER OF London Bridge victim Jack Merritt has accused British Prime Minister Boris Johnson of viewing his son’s death in the London Bridge attack as a political opportunity.
Former University of Cambridge students Jack Merritt, 25 and Saskia Jones, 23, were fatally stabbed by 28-year-old convicted terrorist Usman Khan on 29 November.
Khan was on licence and wearing an electronic monitoring tag when he launched the attack, which injured three others, after he was invited to a prisoner rehabilitation conference on Friday afternoon. Both Jones and Merritt had been attending the conference.
Boris Johnson posted a lengthy Twitter thread after the attack, which he said “highlighted a complicated area of law”. He also blamed “Labour’s 2008 law” for Khan’s release.
“Those changes meant that although four senior judges considered that Khan was dangerous, he was to be automatically released half-way through because of Labour’s 2008 law. That is why we are determined to change this & ensure dangerous terrorists serve their full sentence,” Johnson said.
In an interview with Sky News, Dave Merritt said he had looked at Twitter the day after his son was killed and thought “this is going in the direction which is all too familiar where there’s an incident like this and immediately people start jumping on the criminal justice bandwagon”.
I spoke to Jack in a lot of detail about his work and I knew how passionate he was about rehabilitation and helping people to redeem themselves. And I could already see it starting to move in the opposite direction and I just thought ‘well my son has just been killed, if anybody is entitled to say anything about this then I am’.
Merritt said “instead of seeing a tragedy, Boris Johnson saw an opportunity”.
“We don’t know all the facts about it yet, Boris Johnson doesn’t know all the facts about it and so what was required was just a dignified approach where the politicians would express their regrets, express their condolences to the people affected and would then get on with campaigning in the election,” he said.
But what he did instead was to seize what he saw as an opportunity. There was no reference to us, there was no attempt to contact us and discuss this with us or with anyone else as far as I know. He just saw an opportunity and he took it.
He said his son “would have been extremely upset with the way things were developing”.
Sky News / Twitter
Sky News / Twitter / Twitter
Merritt also spoke to Sky News about the day he found out his son had been killed.
“It just didn’t seem possible that this had happened, that it was Jack who was involved, it’s always someone else isn’t it?”
He said his wife first told him Jack had been involved in the incident at London Bridge and they went to the hospital. They were later told he had been killed and they went to Cambridge to break the news to their other son.
“It was probably the hardest thing I’ve had to do,” he said.
Still better than half the dumps on daft in Dublin city.
At about the same price and all.
Did ya give her a good wash ?
1500 a month is not bad when you include WiFi, Cable tv and a cleaner/butler. Gym included. This is what our city’s need. They look pretty cool IMO
Swankier and bigger than my first bedsit! lol
I like the way a cleaner comes in once a week as standard.
Was expecting worse, can only imagine what they’ll be like in 20years time
Could do with these in dublin 500 would be snapped up in hours..
Well its official the future will in fact be like The 5th Element…
Exactly what came to mind, haha.
So rich people’s homes are getting bigger and the ordinary everyday person’s home gets smaller and smaller and some people are OK with that? The problem is not with people building them, it’s with people buying them. I hope that if anything like this gets built in Dublin that people don’t buy them. They only serve to maximise profits for the developer and nothing else.
Currently living in NYC and paying $1000 to live with 4 other people in an apartment with no living room and a shared bathroom. I’d 100% be up for living in one of these.
Adly needed in dublin they would be snapped up in hours… look nice for a micro apartment
roof over the head. all the essentials, heat, water, toilet, kitchen, electriciy etc what more do you u need. id be happy out living there. close to work/college etc. this is the way its going to have to go. 7 billion people on this planet and increasing. 5th element is imminent :-)
Great idea, with all that space down by the Dublin docklands these would be ideal for students and those entering the workforce, they would hold there value and always be in demand…
A much better use of space that what you have in the surrounding areas of the city centre, large houses with front and back gardens, usually only 1 elderly person living in them in a lot of the most expensive houses..
You could go a little stir crazy if you did much more than sleep in such a micro apartment.
That’s a burglar in pic 1.
A single’s pad for someone with very little possessions, very few books, no need to entertain visitors and able to manage lean living.
Could be OK if you were just to use it as second residence for the working week or something though?
Jenga with caravans.
Kitchen ‘slash’ bathroom
Bigger than some apts in Seoul
What does Alan Kelly think of these spacious accommodations? That’s the lad to chop off a few metres.
Minister Kelly was genuinely dismissive of these rabbit hutches.
He said that he could do smaller by taking plans of prison cells in Mountjoy and doing a variation on these. He is considering contracting this out to DO B
Minister Kelly explained that the more separate households the more households to pay water charges.
“large windows that slide open on to a false balcony” – sounds dangerous- open door on to what I think is a balcony and put my foot out into open air and fall 10 storeys?
If you were on your own you wouldn’t want anything bigger. It’s only birds that want gaffs so big there’s rooms you don’t even go in to and you spend half of one of your days the weekend cleaning the kip
I have a bigger caravan
In New York?
1500 is a great price for NYC
Nice.
It’s in Kips Bay :)
City living for singles or first time renters of the future
Now try bringing this concept to Ireland, and everyone loses their minds…
First dates would be most efficient. From popcorn and soda, to making bacon at the switch of a button…
I need to go the toilet
have your say