The widow of a church organist, who was brutally murdered on Christmas Eve, has said she forgives the men who killed her husband.
Sorry, we couldn’t find this video.Committed Christian Maureen Greaves said it was one of the hardest decisions of her life to forgive the men but she hoped “God’s great mercy will inspire them to true repentance”.
Alan Greaves, 68, was walking to a midnight service to play the organ as he had done for 40 years when Jonathan Bowling and Ashley Foster, both 22, beat him to death in a motiveless attack.
Compassion
The pair were said to be out “looking for trouble” when they set upon Mr Greaves in the vicious attack in Sheffield.
Mrs Greaves, who is mother of four and a grandmother, said: “Alan was a wonderful man who is so dearly missed. Our lives will never be the same again.
“Alan was a man who was driven by love and compassion and he would not want any of us to hold on to feelings of hate and unforgiveness. So in honour of Alan and in honour of the God we both love my prayer is that this story doesn’t end today.
Mercy
“My prayer is that Jonathan Bowling and Ashley Foster will come to understand and experience the love and kindness of the God who made him in his own image and that God’s great mercy will inspire them to true repentance.”
Mr Bowling and Mr Foster were sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court last week. Mr Bowling was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 25 years. Mr Foster was jailed for nine years for manslaughter.
In March a Christian woman, whose husband died after being hit by a car, spoke of her forgiveness for the driver.
Forgive
Patricia Machin, 74, told BBC Radio 5 Live she never blamed the driver and even wrote a letter in his defence.
In 2009 the Christian parents of a boy who was killed by an out-of-control drug driver said that with God’s help they could forgive the woman convicted of his death by dangerous driving.