Parents of ‘murdered’ schoolgirl plead for her photo not to be used to counter Black Lives Matter protests

DISTRAUGHT parents of a little girl who was stabbed to death have begged protesters not to use her picture during marches as a way of spreading hate.

Protesters trying to counter marches by Black Lives matter have used photos of Emily Jones, 7, who was stabbed in front of her dad on Mother’s Day, March 22.

A woman has been charged with her murder and has been remanded in custody until September 15.

She is also being detained under the Mental Health Act.

Emily’s parents said today they found the use of their daughter’s photo “incredibly upsetting”.

The couple from Bolton, Greater Manchester, issued a joint statement, saying: “We are aware that many people are using the picture we released of our daughter Emily, when we publicly paid tribute to her following the worst day of our lives, as part of recent protests and campaigns.

“Today we kindly ask the public to stop using the picture of our Emily from one of her days at school.

“We hold this picture dear to our hearts and to see it being used in this way is incredibly upsetting – Emily loved everything and everyone, regardless of their race, gender or beliefs.

"As we’ve said before, she was beautiful inside and out and had a heart as big as her smile."

Emily was knifed to death in what was described as a “random and unprovoked” attack in a park in Bolton.

Emergency services attended shortly after 2.35pm and discovered Emily had been attacked by a woman with a knife.

Emily died a short while later despite the best efforts of the first responders.

The girl’s parents said they were still grieving and seeing her photograph only added to their pain.

They added: “We can’t thank people enough for the support we have received as we continue to live through the nightmare that is life without Emily, but we’re still grieving over the loss of our beautiful daughter and seeing her picture being used as part of recent protests is causing us huge distress.

“A woman has been charged with the murder of our daughter and we want to ensure that we respect the legal process and ask people not to speculate over the circumstances surrounding her death.

“We thank you for your support with this matter and hope that you can respect our wishes. We wish everyone health and happiness at this uncertain time.”

At the inquest into Emily’s death it was established she had been playing on her scooter during a Mother’s Day trip out to the park when she was attacked.

Coroner Alan Walsh said at the time: "In my 20 years as a coroner this is one of the most tragic deaths that I have dealt with and the loss of a beautiful, innocent, lively, intelligent and lovely seven-year-old in these circumstances is an unimaginable tragedy.

"I appreciate that Emily's parents are beyond devastated and my sincere thoughts are with them at this enormously sad time."

Emily’s parents described their daughter as “always full of joy, love and laughter”.

The investigation is ongoing.