Tributes pour in for murdered vendor

Tuesday 12th of May 2009

Tributes have poured in for The Big Issue seller brutally murdered last week, as the public show their support for vendors living in fear of assault and verbal abuse.

Fears for the safety of those living homeless on the streets have been stoked by the savage murder of a Big Issue vendor in Bournemouth, followed by another assault in the town only days later.

Big Issue seller Ralph Millward, 41, was a well-known character around his pitch outside Marks and Spencer in the Westbourne area, where he also slept and where his body was found on Friday morning.

The tributes that have been left at a memorial outside the shop, including scores of flowers and cards, demonstrates the support for those homeless whose life on the street puts them in perpetual fear of verbal and physical abuse.

Bournemouth's Big Issue distribution manager Samantha Allen said the attack was, sadly, not an isolated incident. Another vendor required stitches to his lip after being attacked in the town centre the following Sunday evening, she said.

Allen added: “Rough sleepers are keeping their heads down at the moment. Something like this shakes people up and makes everyone a bit twitchy. Ralph was a caring gentlemen, loved by staff and the wide community, and not the kind of bloke who had enemies. It raises questions about how vulnerable the vendors are.”

The level of violence in the attack on Thursday night, which inflicted 10 broken ribs, has particularly shocked Big Issue readers, customers, and those that knew him.

Grief-struck Big Issue vendor Tommy, 57, a close friend of Ralph’s, said: “I’ve known him over 10 years now, we met here in Bournemouth on the streets. He wouldn’t hurt nobody, he was the kindest man you’d ever meet. He cheered people up. If he wasn’t around, all his customers would call in to ask where he was.”

Ralph had been a well-liked Big Issue vendor for over eight years, and staff remember him as an intelligent man; a voracious reader of philosophy and science fiction.

He typically turned up at the office at the end of his working day with his nose buried in a book.

Bournemouth Big Issue Foundation worker Simon Chilcott added: “There’s a cloud hanging over the place because vendors know they’re vulnerable. These guys are out there dealing with verbal abuse daily, and yet the odd complaint about them can be blown out of proportion by the tabloids.”

One-third of Big Issue vendors have experienced physical violence selling the magazine, and most put up with insults and abuse. A friend of Ralph’s, 29-year-old Justin Conway, is a former vendor who now has a room in a hostel. “I used to live on the street with Ralph and he was an excellent bloke, one of the nicest people you could meet,” he said.

“I’ve had abuse when I was sleeping rough – people calling me a tramp, had things thrown at me, threats, insults. We’re not tramps, it’s just life throws you some bad cards sometimes.”

Ralph had been estranged from his family after a long battle with alcohol, but his father Ken Millward told The Big Issue: “There wasn’t a day went by we didn’t think about Ralph.” His sister Rhianna, 16, was working in a soup kitchen when she heard of his death. “A man said, ‘Aren’t you Ralphie’s little sister?’ When I asked how he knew, he said, ‘Ralph always carried a picture of you on him’. I was choking back tears. It’s horrible to lose him like this,” said Rhianna.

“They’re just trying to do their job,” said regular buyer Carla Jeffries, 21, at a memorial site made up of messages and flowers at Ralph’s pitch.

“People may have their own opinions about the homeless, but they’re just trying to get on with their lives. I can’t believe anyone could be so cruel.”

A message in one card signed Angela read: “What struck me was your polite, gentle shyness and intelligence. I can remember thinking then; given all your lovely qualities you deserved so much more.”

The seaside town has been rocked by the gruesome incident. “It was a totally unprovoked attack,” said a Dorset Police spokesman. “It was totally out of the ordinary for the town, because we don’t have much violent crime generally.”

The Big Issue’s founder John Bird said: “Throughout The Big Issue’s 18 years there have been many tragedies because we work with people in crisis. Ralph’s death speaks of a Britain in which this mindless brutality is perpetrated against the weakest and most vulnerable in our society.

“This tragedy should act as a reminder that while we lock our doors and feel secure in our homes there are still many people who don’t have a door to shelter behind and who never feel safe.”

Three teenagers are now in custody after being charged with Ralph’s murder. One 14-year-old and two 16-year-old boys appeared at Poole Youth Court on May 11 and were remanded in custody. The boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were due to return to Poole Youth Court today, May 18.