South London campaigners redeem the murder of their son, remembered as a ‘sparkle of hope’

Campaigners Barry and Margaret Mizen told in moving terms the harrowing story of the death of their son Jimmy, the day after his 16th birthday two years ago, when they spoke at a Greencoat Forum in the London centre of Initiatives of Change on 12 October, 2010.

They showed a 15-minute film of a journalist’s interview with them in which they recount the story of Jimmy’s death. Thrust into the media limelight, they launched the Jimmy Mizen Foundation in his memory which promotes the development of young people, through supporting youth organizations and apprenticeship placements.

They have since worked on initiatives with the bereaved parents of Damilola Taylor and Rob Knox, as well as the Football Association and the Boy Scouts – to which they have donated two new minibuses with £50,000 they raised in Jimmy's memory.

Jimmy was killed in a violent attack on him by 19-year-old Jake Fahri in the Three Cooks Bakery in Lee, south-east London, on 10 May 2008. In a rage, Fahri, who has since been sentence to a minimum of 14 years in prison, threw a heavy oven glass dish at Jimmy's face. It shattered and severed the main blood vessels to and from Jimmy’s heart. He died in the arms of his older brother, Tommy, lying in a cupboard at the back of the bakery. It was all over in three minutes, Barry said.

Remembering their son as ‘a sparkle of hope’, the Mizens, who are devout Roman Catholics, said they had no hatred for Fahri, but rather felt sorry for him. His parents, who are near neighbours, have not spoken to them since the killing.

The Mizens told how they approached Westminster Cathedral, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, to hold a peace service in memory of Jimmy and all other victims of violent crime, on the second anniversary of his death this year. They invited Prince Charles to attend. Following the ceremony, they met the prince, as well as Kate McCann, whose daughter Madeleine vanished on a holiday in Portugal three years ago. The Mizens also spoke to the thousands gathered in Hyde Park, London, during the Pope’s recent visit to the UK.

The Mizens will soon open a café in Lee, near Lewisham, which they quipped would be called ‘the cafe of good hope’.