From the BPI we want to show our support for the family attorney John Jones QC, and for that reason, we publish the letter written by Aurora Bewicke letter for him.
A loss both truly personal and global.
There are few people I have met that touched me the way John did, intellectually, as a role model, and as so much more. In the past 10 years, hardly a day has gone by I haven’t thought of him.
From the story of how we met, with his accidentally mispronouncing a Chinese word, turning into something quite comical, to our trips together around Europe-flying me to Switzerland to eat oysters and drink champagne or hiking on the far north islands on The Netherlands, to our mutual passion for international law, with me looking up to him in so many ways, and even on to him spending time with my father.
After parting ways, I thought of him every step of my career, following in his steps in subtle ways, from building languages, to working with the UN, taking on political criminal defense cases, including once almost ending up on the same case, and even pursuing a degree at Oxford.
He introduced me to the International Criminal Bar, many of the members now having become like family.
I do not know why he has departed this earth, but I still hold his spirit close to mine, wish that his memories live on, and pray his family and friends find peace in this shared loss.