Respect for the living and the departed

Hello all, this is Della, David’s widow. I hope you are all bearing up during these stressful times.
I would like to address some strange rumours which have been spread on social media lately.

It has been brought to my attention that I have been being accused by Sean Manchester – the same person to whom David and I sent a cease and desist letter some years back regarding online stalking and harassment – of some very strange things.  Yet again he is attempting to resurrect sickening and perverse rumours which he alone started. These include David being my father, my mother being David’s second wife, etc. He also sees fit to challenge the parentage of David’s youngest son (who looks just like him and whose birth certificate accurately records David and his first wife as parents).

Worse still, Manchester has been publishing blog and FB posts which evidence his unhealthy interest in the months of ill health which preceded David’s death, his last days, and what happened next regarding his mortal remains. Understandably I find this all distasteful and distressing. This is made worse for me as I am aware of this person’s morbid interest in dead bodies. It is me who has lost their partner, not him, and he seems to be a bit confused about that.

David died of natural causes, and the precise details of his passing and subsequent funeral are not a matter of public interest. Those who were there know how it went down, and have retained their loyalty towards our need for privacy – a need which has clearly not diminished! David was a somewhat infamous person who had enjoyed friendship and correspondence with a vast number of people over the years. He was and is very much loved, and to avoid misinformation spreading I made a public statement about his death on his website and upon request gave an interview to the Ham and High. Prior to these public disclosures close friends and family members had naturally been made aware of David’s death. It was a terribly difficult time for us all, and I appreciate and am very grateful for the huge amount of support and care which was extended to my step-son Jamie and myself. I also made a public statement on the first anniversary of David’s death this year. I have continued to respond to personal emails and phone calls etc. from people who David had respect for. Therefore the general public – which includes the person in question – have had ample access to all they need to know.

That Sean Manchester is openly bragging about his attempts to obtain David’s birth and death certificates, his will, probate details and more concerningly information pertaining to his body or cremated remains is beyond upsetting. David’s death was legally registered, and his body was legally cremated, under his legal name. Allegations have been made that both these processes were overseen by myself having used a fake name for David – which is pure nonsense as well as libellous.

This person was not informed of David’s degenerating health because he was not his friend on any level (quite the opposite), despite his bizarre blog entries which fantasise about some sort of final reunion. That he continues to stalk David in death is beyond the pale, and I respectfully request that the people who are fruitlessly assisting him in his inappropriate endeavours have a good think about their actions and motives. This includes a malicious woman called Deborah Cross aka Jessica Olly who has apparently been telephoning crematoriums on his behalf who may wish to recall the many non-Highgate related supportive chats we had whilst her own husband was dying. Ironically some of the people who have caused David and I a lot of strife over the last 10 years and who I have no contact with have apparently been criticising our primary stalker’s actions, and I would like to thank them for that. I would encourage you all to continue to bear in mind how low his behaviour is and to treat it with the contempt that it deserves. Ditto re: the people who may find it amusing, or who actively participate in it. Can people please also try to bear in mind that there are people who may be reading any dissemination of this nonsense and your comments upon it who are family members or long term (or at least decent and trustworthy) friends of David’s in real life?

David has left behind enough writings, audio and video recordings as well as memories for those who met him in person. There is no need for this sick and strange interest in his remains. Those of us who have responsibility for them have no interest in creating a publicly accessible gravesite, which would attract oddballs and weirdos (the occult generally does!). David did not want that either – he genuinely did not care what happened to his body after death as he considered it to be a spent shell with no further use. I know that, because – you know, I was married to him. Husbands and wives talk about a LOT of things. The last thing he would want would be for the person who continues to harass him even in death to visit any kind of grave and to use his visit as a publicity stunt. OR to disrupt his funeral service or wake – both of which were very intense yet positive and respectful events. With no cameras! NO need. We loved him for who he was, and were there to celebrate his life. Not to show our friends that we knew someone famous or sell pics to the press.

I am so sorry to all of the genuine, kind people reading this who will be upset by this person’s actions. Please do not retaliate, or give him any more attention. I miss David every day, as you may do – and if you don’t think about him every day that is OK too. But this person’s perverted obsession with the remains of the deceased is not how David would like you to think about him.

Stay safe, stay indoors where possible – and stay sincere. Think before you type and starve his nibs of the ‘oxygen of publicity’ which he so craves.
Love to you all,
Della

P.S. – David does not have a half brother called Robert who once played the lead role in Jesus Christ Superstar! Someone asked me about this today. The actor of that name is from a completely unrelated Farrant family who did happen to live in the Hornsey area in the 1970s. Bobby Shafto (stagename) is alive and well and not remotely connected to David Farrant. What next??? I’ll tell you what next. He’ll be saying I buried David in the back garden. Well why not, he’s already obliquely referred to him faking his own death, dying long before I announced his death, and kinda of being undead. Yeah, imagine someone talking about your deceased loved one like that. No shame.