Obituary: Richard Ellery

Richard Ellery's family and friends searched for him

Shopworker Richard Ellery, 21, was on a rare trip to the capital on the morning of 7 July.

The employee of Jessops camera store in Ipswich, where he lived, was on his way to a training course at the firm's Kensington branch.

In a text to his mother at 0830 BST he said he was en route, as his train reached Liverpool Street station.

But Richard never arrived at work and his parents, who live in Southampton, and his flatmate tried to contact him when they saw the news.

His father Trevor travelled to London the following day with the family's local vicar, carrying a picture of his son in an effort to track him down.

'Fun loving'

Richard Ellery's younger brother Tim, 19, and his Ipswich flatmate, Tom Stopanic, also made the trip to help.

He will be sorely missed by all of his family and close friends Family statement

But confirmation of his death on the Aldgate-bound Tube train eventually came.

A statement from the family said: "Richard was a fun loving boy - full of enthusiasm for life.

"He will be sorely missed by all of his family and close friends."

Very popular

Mr Ellery, who had a love of music, was born in the Shirley area of Southampton.

He attended Wordsworth Infants School, Shakespeare Junior School, Bellemoor secondary school and Taunton's College.

Three months before the bomb attacks, he left the family home to move in with friends in Ipswich.

His new employer, Jessops, closed all its 280 stores for the national two-minute silence on 14 July.

The manager of the Ipswich branch, David Gunn, said Richard had become a very popular member of staff in the five weeks he had been working there.