The news of the brutal, gratuitous killing of Tom has shocked and upset me greatly. (News reached me via The Times — here and here; the Telegraph — here and here, the BBC and Life Style Extra.)
I knew him during my long period of teaching at Marlborough College, where Tom was a boy in the boarding house where I first tutored (B1). He was a gentle, clever, thoughtful student — someone already forever in my memory as a person of great gifts who carried them with a modesty and shyness that won the love of those around him.
I cannot imagine how devastated his fiancée and family must be. The thoughts of all at Marlborough who knew Tom will be with them.

