Father of murdered girl to do Paris marathon in her memory for a Sidmouth animal charity

A SIDMOUTH charity is rooting for an entrant in the Paris Marathon on Sunday.

Patrick Rice, who lives near Woodbridge, Suffolk, is following his son’s example to raise money for Sidmouth Donkey Sanctuary by running a marathon.

In 2008 his eldest son Seb, ran the London Marathon on behalf of the charity and raised �4,000.

Now Patrick will attempt the Paris Marathon on April 15 and is doing it in memory of his daughter Rebecca, who was murdered by her boyfriend in 2006 when she was just 18.

“In that sense, I am following in Seb’s footsteps by running a marathon in Rebecca’s memory,” said Patrick, 57, pictured in his Donkey Sanctuary running shirt with a picture of Rebecca, who was an aspiring model when she was stabbed to death by her drug dealer boyfriend when she tried to end their relationship.

“Rather than have flowers at her funeral we asked everybody to donate money to The Donkey Sanctuary as this was a charity close to her heart.

“I had the good fortune to visit the Sanctuary in 2010 and it has been a favoured charity of my family for many years now.”

Patrick, who says this is his “first and only marathon”, is in training and completed the Brentwood half marathon in under two hours.

He has raised �500 so far and has promises of a further �600 and is hopeful he will reach his own target of �1,500 on the day.

If you would like to make a donation for the Sanctuary through Patrick visit: www.justgiving.com/Patrick-Rice.