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The tragic death that brought a community together

News of people being killed in knife attacks recurs with tragic regularity, but the reports rarely touch on the impact on the victim’s family and friends. This article sets out to understand these ripple effects — some perhaps expected, others likely not — and explore the case of Russell “Barty” Brown, who was stabbed to death in Bethnal Green, east London, in September 2016.

Listen to After a Death

“I remember thinking ‘wow, oh my God!’”

Barty wasn鈥檛 a celebrity, but more than 700 people celebrated the life of this ordinary young man

When Emma Brown got up to speak at her brother’s funeral, it was the first time she saw the congregation. And what she saw shocked her.

“I saw that the church – which seated 700 people – was full,” she recalls, “and you couldn’t even see the door at the back.”

Despite the outpouring of grief since he was stabbed to death just over a month earlier, Emma pinpoints that as the moment she realised just how many people loved her brother, Russell Brown, known to everyone as Barty.

“It was a crutch, it really, really was, to feel proud of your son,” remembers Barty’s dad Russell. Barty wasn’t a celebrity, but on a chilly, grey day in the middle of the week, more than 700 people took a day off work or travelled miles to celebrate the life of this ordinary young man, and to mourn with his family.

Barty and his Dad, Russell

“People wasn’t just coming to pay their respects, they was coming to tell you what he’d done for them, the reason why they was grieving” he says now. “His grandfather, who’s just passed away, was 85 when he died. He said he never had the amount of friends in his lifetime as Barty did in 26 years.”

After a death

Almost five years after Barty was stabbed to death, Russell and Emma, together with his mum and other family members, Barty’s friends, and some of those who looked out for Barty at the end of his life, have spoken to 成人论坛 Radio 4 for a documentary After A Death. It’s about the long-term effects of Barty’s violent, unexpected death, and how it continues to affect the lives of people connected to it.

Dr. Ben Clarke was one of those who cared for Barty. A consultant in emergency medicine who works with London’s Air Ambulance, he is used to dealing with stabbings, but still remembers vividly what happened that day. “I remember walking into the flat,” he says, “and it was very, very clear immediately that it was a scene of great violence.” There was a lot of blood around the flat, and Ben found Barty on the verge of death. He had to open his chest, and manually massage his heart.

Despite this, he was hopeful Barty would survive, and recalls being told told later that he hadn’t. “I was disappointed because I thought we could potentially have saved Barty.”

‘It changed me’

For Barty’s mum, Tammy, what followed wasn’t so much disappointment as devastation. Thanks to Ben’s intervention she was at least able to say goodbye to her son before he died. But she still feels lost.

“I feel like some days I don’t even want to wake up. I know it’s five years this September and I know I’ve got grandchildren and I know I’ve got a daughter and a husband, but if I could be with Barty I’d give all my tomorrows to be with him today, honestly.”

Sitting in the local park, close to a bench dedicated to Barty, Tammy reveals that medics had just given him the go-ahead to donate a kidney to his aunt. Instead, five years on, she is still on dialysis. And this, like every story about the hole Barty’s death has left in their lives, tells us about the kind of man he was. And none more so than when his sister, Emma, speaks about him. “I want to go back and be Emma before, and I still battle every day to be that girl, because he was proud of that person,” Emma says. “But it’s hard. It changed me.”

Siblings Emma and Barty

‘There might not be a later down the line’

It changed everyone who knew him. Standing beside Barty’s grave, covered as it always is in flowers and tributes, his friend Kevin Pidgeon, makes an interesting observation: “I tell you what: he’s brought the community together.”

It forced me to recognise how precious life is, and how short life can be
Benoit Berthe, witness to Barty鈥檚 killing

What’s interesting about that observation is that everyone agrees it wouldn’t have happened had Barty lived. His best friend, Kwami Constance, nods. “Regardless of whatever’s going on, whatever day’s Barty’s day, nothing else happens.” Other disputes are put to one side. “Life’s too short,” Kwame continues, “you’ve got friends that have known each other for years that automatically assume ‘don’t worry, we’ll sort it out later, down the line’, and this kind of just informed people there might not be a later down the line.”

Benoit Berthe

That sentiment is shared by Benoit Berthe, a witness to Barty’s killing who called the police and later gave evidence in court. “The effect on me was actually game-changing because I just decided to change everything,” he says, sitting in his garden. “It forced me to recognise how precious life is, and how short life can be.” Benoit left his job and started a company which helps films get nominated for major awards. “I was on fire,” he reflects on how he felt back then. “I just wanted to prove life that it was worth living.” And this year he did: three of the films he supported were nominated for Oscars.

To learn more, listen to the documentary, After a Death.

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