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Camden News - by RICHARD OSLEY
Published: 10 July 2008

Candlelight vigil for Ben

SHE had only met Ben Kinsella once but tears still streamed down her face as she pulled a lighter from her baggy hooded top and used it to light up one of the tea-lights on the wall on the corner of North Road.
The girl, with make-up running down her cheeks and probably no older than 16 herself, was just another weeping face in a crowd of 500, lighting candles at 2am on Sunday morning – exactly a week after Ben was stabbed.
But it didn’t seem to matter whether it was Ben’s best friend or a friend of a friend – the tears flowed as a whole community stood still in shock. The sound of murmuring was broken by anguished cries.
“Everybody knew somebody who knew Ben and that’s why so many people are here now,” said the girl with the tea-light. “It is truly heartbreaking.”
The vigil, largely organised over the social networking website Facebook, lasted around an hour.
Messages of heartache have been written in black ink on the paving slabs near the wall, others have been inked on Arsenal shirts.
“When you see something like this, it brings it all home to you,” said one of Ben’s former classmates. “This street corner will always be about Ben.
“It should be a reminder that nothing like this should ever happen again.”

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