2 years ago
The 15th October marks the 17th anniversary of the murder of Jody Dobrowski, a man walking home across Clapham Common.
15th October marks 17 years since the death of Jody Dobrowski, a 24 year old man who was brutally murdered walking home from his friend’s home in 2005. Jody was walking across Clapham Common around midnight when he was assaulted by two men; Thomas Pickford and Scott Walker in a pre-meditated and homophobic attack. The injuries sustained by Jody were so vicious that he died in hospital 10 hours later. Both of the assailants admitted to their horrific crime in their hearing in 2006, where they were committed to a minimum of 28 years in prison.
You can visit both a bench and tree that have been erected in Jody’s memory on Clapham Common. The bench was installed on the 14th October in 2012 after a fundraising campaign raised £2,700. The first £1K paid for the bench and the remaining money was donated to charity 17-24-30 who organise the National Hate Crime Awareness Week. The tree was planted on the 5th December 2018 after a crowdfunding campaign run by the Friends of Clapham Common who wanted to plant 101 trees as a part of a memorial project. Jody’s tree was the 7th to be planted and is still flourishing today.
We would like to take this anniversary as a moment to recognise the life of Jody Dobrowski, who, according to those who knew him, filled his years with brightness and laughter. We would also like to use it as a reminder that, though we’ve come a long way since 2005 there is still a lot of learning that needs to be done. See below some useful links that support LGBTQIA+ communities:
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