Ealing vicarage rape victim and inspirational campaigner Jill Saward's ashes were cast lovingly out to sea by her husband in a poignant final farewell on Saturday (August 12).
Mother of three Ms Saward, who died in January after suffering a stroke aged just 51 , wanted her final resting place to be Nefyn in Wales, where she spent some of her happiest times.
Following a memorial service to commemorate her life at Nefyn’s Eglwys Dewi Sant on Saturday morning (August 12), her ashes were scattered by her husband, Gavin, in the sea off Nefyn. He waded into the cold waters to cast them onto the waves, the Daily Post reported.
The victims’ rights champion was raped when burglars broke into her father’s vicarage in Ealing in 1986.
The 51-year-old, who was the first rape victim in Britain to waive her right to anonymity, died of a brain haemorrhage in hospital in Wolverhampton on January 5.
She had chosen Nefyn as her final resting place because of a long-running connection with the town which began in her late teens, when she first visited the area on an annual beach Christian mission – which she took part in for a decade.
Her eldest son, Myles, is now a member of the beach mission team.
“She visited the town several times a year and was always made welcome by the locals.”
Gavin Drake, her husband of 24 years, said. “It was in the town that Jill felt that she could be ‘just Jill’.
“She loved the people of Nefyn and they loved her back.
“Jill would always try and bring joy to people, and that’s what we will remember.”
More than 300 people attended a funeral for Ms Saward at Lichfield Cathedral after her death in January.
The service to remember Jill, who was born in Liverpool, finished with the anthem "You’ll Never Walk Alone".
Paying tribute to his wife, Mr Drake said her death had hit him and their three sons hard.
He said: "The pain of losing Jill has been hard. And is hard. Not just for me, but for my three lads.
"Myles, Rory and Fergus have shown incredible courage and strength - on the outside at least."
Ms Saward's rape was notorious for the comments of trial judge Mr Justice Leonard, who said her trauma "had not been so great".
The sentences given to Ms Saward’s rapists in the 1980s drew extensive criticism, as they were given longer sentences for the burglary than for her rape.
She subsequently campaigned for justice for victims of sex crimes, writing a book about her experiences and appearing in a BBC interview.
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