Man killed during Manchester synagogue attack hailed as hero at funeral

A man who was killed while stopping a knife-wielding attacker from entering a Manchester synagogue last week was described as a “tremendously strong hero” at his funeral.

Adrian Daulby, 53, was buried at a religious ceremony at Agecroft Jewish cemetery in Salford on Monday.

He died on Thursday after being accidentally shot by police responding to the attack at Heaton Park Shul. Daulby and other worshippers prevented Jihad al-Shamie from breaking into the synagogue after Shamie rammed his car into the gate.

Shamie was shot dead by firearms officers and in the process a stray bullet hit Daulby, who was pronounced dead by emergency services.

During the attack, which took place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar year, Melvin Cravitz, 66, was also killed. Three more men remain in hospital with serious injuries, including a security guard with car-related injuries and a Community Security Trust worker with stab wounds.

Rabbi Daniel Walker, who had been leading a service at the synagogue at the time of the attack, eulogised Daulby, calling him a “quiet man” who had shown bravery “when evil struck”.

“Adrian sits on the back row of the shul,” Walker told the gathered crowd, which included Daulby’s family, friends and fellow worshippers. “When evil struck, he sought to secure the building. All of you who know and love Adrian know he was a quiet man. In that moment of need, that quiet man became a tremendously strong hero.”

Describing him as a “righteous man”, Walker said Daulby had been sitting in the same seat that his late father and grandfather had sat in before him when he rushed to prevent Shamie from entering the building.

“I watched him leap from his seat, run to the door. He braced the doors and he held the doors against our attacker. Adrian didn’t run away from danger. Adrian ran to help. Adrian was righteous in his passing. Adrian was righteous in his life. He was a kind soul, a gentle soul.”

Walker said that on visiting Heaton Park Shul on Sunday he had found it “frozen in time”, with Daulby’s prayer book open on the same page as it had been at the time of the attack.

“He was saving the lives of his community. There is none holier, there is none greater, there is none higher. A great, great martyr. May his memory always be a blessing,” he said.

During the funeral, which included traditional Hebrew prayers, one of Daulby’s nieces called her uncle a “true hero” who “never deserved what happened to him”, while another niece said: “Our tradition teaches us, to save a single life is to save the world. Adrian did just that.”

Neighbours said Daulby was known to love animals and to converse with local children, including giving gifts to Muslim youngsters on Eid. They said he was a cancer survivor, and that he had been attending synagogue more regularly since the death of his father a few years prior.

Shamie, 35, was on bail for an alleged rape at the time of the attack. He was not known to counter-terrorism police but did have a criminal history, and police say he may have been influenced by an extreme Islamist mindset.

Two men aged 32 and 30 and two women aged 61 and 46 who were arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts remain in custody after police were granted a further five days to question them on Saturday.

The attack led to an outpouring of grief and support across the country, and Keir Starmer pledged to increase the number of police and security officers outside synagogues.