'It saved me': Bea Jones, 83, on the life-sustaining force of good

Now 83, the former teacher says it still requires daily mental diligence to "push away" the painful, intrusive thoughts.

"It was awful for a long, long time - it still can be," she says quietly.

"I can be caught out by a word or the attitude of somebody. It will never go away - it wouldn't be right if it went away. 

"Does it get easier? Probably, because you get used to it. I feel like I put on armour sometimes.

Bea Jones with her daughter Moira in 2006 (Image: The Jones Family)

"This is why I keep myself busy, it's why I can't sit down with an empty head because things come in that I don't want them to and I push them out."

It is part of the reason the family set up Moira's Fund, the charity that offers emotional and financial support to families traumatically bereaved by the murder or manslaughter of a loved one.

"I think it saved me", says the former teacher, who lives in the village of Weston in Staffordshire with her husband Hu.

"We wanted a memorial for Moira, we wanted to be helpful - I had no idea it would occupy me to such an extent," she says.

More than 400 people, including her 85-year-old husband, will walk, jog or run a 3-mile loop in Queen's Park on Sunday to raise funds for the charity set up in her daughter's name. 

As usual, on this year's 10th anniversary of the first event in 2014, she will present the medals.

"Half of them want a hug as well and that's lovely," she says.  "I feel a great closeness to all the people who come on the run.

"They all know what happened, they know more than what our people in the village know because there was much more about it in the Glasgow papers.

"It poured down with rain on the first one and it poured down last year but in between we've been very, very lucky," she adds.

Bea with husband Hu at Moira's Run in Queen's Park (Image: Freelance)

"It doesn't make a difference, the atmosphere of that run is just wonderful. 

"I wouldn't miss it for the world. There will come a time...but at the moment, it's the one event of the year - and I wouldn't want to diminish the other events - but there's a warmth.

"When we come to Glasgow there is a sense of understanding, warmth and wanting to help other people.

"With the best will in the world - especially in the early days - there are folk who say they understand that don't have a clue.

"But in Glasgow it all seems genuine and that will always be special."

She estimates that around 4800 people have been helped by Moira's Fund since it was launched in April 2009, the same month Slovakian Marek Harcar was jailed for a minimum of 25 years for her "barbaric" murder.

Bea and Hu and Moira's brother, Grant, attended court every day and sat through hours of harrowing evidence.

"As a mum you hang on for the rest of the family, for your children, for you partner, for your other family members," she says. "If we help a mum we help a whole family."

The 83-year-old wrote a letter to the media after being bombarded with requests for comment about the murder of Sarah Everard, the 33-year-old who was abducted, raped and murdered by serving Metropolitan Police officer Couzens as she walked home in London in 2021.

Sarah Everard (Image: police handout)

In the response she said she was distressed by the similarities between this case and her daughter's and "first and last" her concern was for Sarah’s family and loved ones.

READ MORE:

• Emma  Caldwell calls for criminal investigation into case 
• Eleventh hour reprieve for event honouring murdered Glasgow businesswoman 
• Lennie Pennie: In the name of Moira, a message of hope 

She says she hasn't met Margaret Caldwell, the mother of Emma Caldwell who was murdered by Iain Packer in 2005, but the charity has helped many other families affected by violent crime across the UK  'that everyone will have heard of'.

"People wouldn't dream that such high-profile people would come to us for help, often years later," she says.

"That's the thing about this," she adds. "At the time there is huge publicity and you read all about the baddie who's done it, how long they get put away for and by then there is nothing about the family any more.

"Nobody really knows what's happening to them in the months and years.

"There are things that will trigger it years later including funerals of other family members.

"When we lost Moira there was no homicide support in Scotland or England [and] I wrote to Scotland Yard to say what we were hoping to do. 

'I put on armour sometimes' (Image: Newsquest)

"There were only family liaison officers and I couldn't fault ours but they leave a case after an arrest has been made."

The run's main sponsor is Victim Support Scotland (VSS) and as a result of joint campaigning with Moira's Fund a dedicated support network was set up in 2019 for people bereaved by crime.

Bea says things have improved but the charity is still plugging gaps in support, not least financial.

"There are so many people on the breadline before things happen. Some employers are very good but a lot of people lose their jobs," she says.

"I couldn't go back into school and teach teenagers.

"A quarter of families move house either because they can't afford it or it's happened in their house.

"There is no government going to pay for respite or understanding that 12 months on there's no money for school uniforms or it's Christmas and someone is missing and Santa might not be able to come.

She remains in relatively good health but says she is aware that in the next few years "things will have to change" and she may not be able to play as big a role in the charity as she does now.

She says she often wishes she had a religious faith, aware that for some it can provide solace for anyone negotiating the grief process.

"I think that in all religions there is a sort of mission involved," she says.

"I do believe in 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you'.  I have a belief in your help your neighbour. 

"I don't know if there is an 'afterwards' - I hope so."

www.themoirafund.org.uk