Tributes were today paid to the two victims of the London Bridge terror attack.
Hollie, the best friend of Cambridge graduate Jack Merritt, 25, said he was “quite simply the best thing”, adding: “Your voice won’t be lost, you will never be lost and you will never be forgotten.
“You were such a completely brilliant boy, you could have done anything, literally anything. But you chose to help others. You championed the underdog. You spoke up for people and now we must do the same for you.
“This is completely senseless. I will never make sense of it in my head.”
The family of Mr Merritt, from Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, asked for his death to not to be used to justify “even more draconian sentences” for offenders.
They said: “He lit up our lives and the lives of his many friends and colleagues, and we will miss him terribly.
“Jack lived his principles; he believed in redemption and rehabilitation, not revenge.”
The second victim, Saskia Jones, 23, an aspiring police officer and former Cambridge student from Stratford-Upon-Avon, was “intent on living life to the full”, her family said.
Both died when convicted jihadi Usman Khan began a knife rampage at a prison rehabilitation conference on Friday.
Ms Jones, a volunteer for the Learning Together programme, died alongside co-ordinator Mr Merritt.
She is believed to have recently applied to join West Midlands Police’s graduate programme after gaining a first class degree with honours and a masters in criminology.
Her family said: “She had a wonderful sense of mischievous fun and was generous to the point of always wanting to see the best in all people.
“She was intent on living life to the full and had a wonderful thirst for knowledge, enabling her to be the best she could be.”
Olivia Smith, a former tutor of Ms Jones at Anglia Ruskin University, said Saskia’s dissertation was so good she cried with pride while marking it.
She told the Standard: “I do hope her dissertation will get some interest, it was really exceptional and about rape crisis support, a cause close to her heart.
“A particular point for her was about the disproportionate amount of resources given to counter terror compared with violence against women.”
She added: “It is so cruel that her death might be used by some to justify more of this.”
Sebastian Le Feuvre, 26, her friend for eight years, said: “She was incredible, stupidly strong and lined up both brains and beauty. She’s so funny, caring and never saw the bad in people.”
Sophie Alexandra Ryder posted on Facebook: “Saskia was one of the wittiest, most caring people and taken too soon in such cruel circumstances.”
