A woman has told how she has been helped to come to terms with the trauma of her neighbour’s murder by getting a mural of the Australian landmark Uluru in her back garden.
Laura Cundy said she considered moving away from her home in Kingswood following the killing of her neighbour Bradley Lewis in March this year, but has felt able to stay thanks to the handiwork of Bristol street artist Joe Westlake. Laura was first on the scene next door when her neighbour Abigail White fatally stabbed her partner Bradley Lewis, and was a key witness in the trial in October, which found White guilty of murder.
Laura said that while her thoughts will always be with Bradley and his family, the aftermath of the horrors she witnessed meant she and her husband also struggled to move on with the constant reminder of what happened next door. So this summer, she and her husband commissioned Joe Westlake, from Joe's Murals, to paint a landscape that includes the huge Uluru - the landmark formerly known as Ayer’s Rock.
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The couple were approaching their 20th wedding anniversary and had taken their honeymoon back then in Australia. “Following the traumatic event, I found it difficult to enjoy my garden without my thoughts and eyeline being drawn to next door,” she said.
“We considered moving away but didn’t want to give up our loved house. Joe painted Uluru to also mark our 20 year wedding anniversary and honeymoon in Australia.”
As a street artist and mural painter, Joe Westlake was widely praised by the people of Shirehampton for creating a mural of the village’s ‘Cockle Lady’ Lillian Rees, and Laura said she wanted to share how he had helped her too. “I will forever be grateful to Joe for helping me through a very difficult time, and I’m so pleased to see he is getting the recognition he deserves,” she added.
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