Demko family slams council and vows to keep leaving floral tributes
Loved ones of a man murdered in Ashtead have told the council: "You can take away our flowers but you can't take away our love".
Friends and family of Matthew Demko gathered on Monday evening to lay flowers outside the Links Road home where the 25-year-old was killed in April last year.
Surrey County Council told Matthew's family last month that they will now remove any tributes left there and asked for no more placed outside the property.
Matthew's brother Tom has slammed the decision.
He said: "Everyone is going to put stuff there because it has shocked the community. I wasn't very happy about what the council said. I was quite disgusted.
"If people want to leave flowers there then good for them. I feel a bit spiritual about that place because that's where he died and it means something to me.
"Every time I go to my dad's house I stop there and say something to Matt and have a think."
The 25-year-old's sister Emily also blasted the council's demands.
She said: "If they take down ours then they should take down flowers alongside motorways. There can't be one rule for us and another for everyone else."
She added: "I go and sit there for ages, sometimes at 4am. I never do it during the day but always at night.
"It's peaceful there. I can think about things and give Matt an update on everyone."
Friend David Sillett said: "We are always going to put flowers down there. I don't think any of the residents are bothered. After all we have been through it's not too much to let us put down flowers."
Fellow friend Martyn Goody added: "As long as we are all still in Ashtead there will be flowers there."
Matthew's father, Nick, told the Advertiser last week that the council said flowers were a "safety issue".
7 Comments
by Laura, Ashtead
Friday, July 03 2009, 11:41AM
“I am appalled that the council has even raised this issue. I cannot understand how any human being could go out of their way to dispose of flowers, photos and letters subtly placed on a quite residential road. How they sleep at night is beyond me. This place will always have meaning because it is where Matt spent his last moments. Therefore we need to rightly remember him in this spot. By removing these gestures, you are merely causing yet more grief to a family still very much in mourning. Have some compassion.”
by -, Ashtead
Friday, July 03 2009, 9:46AM
“Why should people not have the right to express how they feel? It is not as if the pictures and flowers are some huge memorial. After everything the Demko family have been through is it really that much to ask to leave flowers and a few pictures. The only people who drive past it are people who live down the road or people visiting those people. I was told yesterday that the pictures have been removed again. The family seem to be full of love and are willing to put up a fight for something that they should be allowed to do.”
by Mark LeBrock, Leatherhead
Friday, July 03 2009, 3:57AM
“Surrey Council needs reminding that they work for us, and in this case they need to have some compassion. I¿d like to know which faceless bureaucrat made this rule, will they have the guts to tell these people in person that they cannot lay flowers, I think not as with most council members they are spineless. Have some respect Surrey council and show some humanity, if you are capable.”
by anon, lhead
Thursday, July 02 2009, 7:41PM
“its a shame the council dont worry about all the overgrown weeds and grass verges which really are a danger to drivers and pedegestrians,but that would meen them doing some work for a change.its only natural for a family to want to morn whatever he has done.”
by John Boy, Ashtead
Thursday, July 02 2009, 3:53PM
“Graves are the places for flowers,and to pay your respects,all this fuss for what
think of the people that have really sufferd, how quick people forget what he was.”
by David, Leatherhead
Thursday, July 02 2009, 2:40PM
“I think the council has more important things to worry about. As Emily says how can people be allowed to leave massive flower displays on highways such as the display on the A3 near new malden that has been there for years and this must a bigger safety hazzard than a quiet cul-de-sac”
by k, surrey
Thursday, July 02 2009, 12:53PM
“let people pay there respect”