Priest to lead vigil for man stabbed in city

Reverend Alaric Lewis, the priest-in-charge of St Giles Church, says he felt "unnerved" by the stabbing

A priest holding a vigil a week on from the fatal stabbing of a man said he believed it would bring the community together with a message of hope.

Oliver Payne, 38, was found with serious injuries in Paragon Place, off Earlham Road in Norwich, at 18:45 BST on Friday, and died at the scene.

Police have stepped up patrols in the area. No arrests have been made.

"When these things happen on your front step it tends to make you think differently," said the Reverend Alaric Lewis, who will lead Friday evening's gathering.

The attack on Oliver Payne happened within a few feet of several flats

Paragon Place is an area of flats connected to the city centre via an underpass, with Mr Payne found on a path on the well-used route.

Mr Lewis, the priest-in-charge at St Giles Church, said he happened to be walking by when police were still at the scene, and felt "a sense of being unnerved".

The area was used to anti-social behaviour and violence but this was "a whole new level", he added.

"There is a problem, worldwide, with 'othering' - we are reading about things happening in the north or in Hungary, and to see that kind of violence, even on a single scale, outside your front window, is disturbing," he said.

"Suddenly it's not 'other', and it becomes part of our way of viewing the world.

"It's very easy to make any conflict about us and them, but there really is only us."

'Peace in our patch'

Mr Lewis added that the community wanted to do something, especially in light of the unconnected backdrop of disorder across the UK.

"We all decided together to say, 'This happened in our patch,' this individual act of violence, but perhaps its also representative of a toxic environment.

"We can get together and encourage one another to be people of peace in our patch and hope other patches will join in with that - eventually."

Mr Lewis said Friday's vigil would be a "very simple thing", with everyone welcome to light a candle and be together at a community garden off Paragon Place at 18:30 BST.