Lord Simon Woolley, a mentor to Arday at Cambridge, said he had seen him shortly before his death and knew that “Jason was suffering”. Arday had told him he felt he was being “hounded”, Woolley said, adding that he and others had “told him he was loved”.
“Jason wouldn’t dare leave the house,” he said. “We held him in our arms […], we showed him he was not alone”.
Woolley remembered Arday as a “wonderful man” and called for “some reckoning” following his death.
Windrush campaigner Patrick Vernon also urged those gathered to remember Arday beyond the controversy surrounding his final weeks, saying: “Let’s remember his life, his scholarship, his achievements, his determination and his humanity and the people that he inspired.”