Garry John Purdham (20 October 1978 – 2 June 2010) was an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

player and farmer. He was killed in the 2010

Cumbria shootings The Cumbria shootings was a shooting spree that occurred on 2 June 2010 when a lone gunman, taxi driver Derrick Bird, killed twelve people and injured eleven others in Cumbria, England. Along with the 1987 Hungerford massacre and the 1996 D ...

Career

Purdham began his professional rugby league career in 1999 with

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is a port on the north-west coast, and lies outside the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park. ...

. There he played alongside his brother

Rob Purdham Rob Purdham (born 14 April 1980) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. An England international representative , he previously played for Whitehaven and London Broncos/ Harlequins. P ...

. In 2005 Purdham transferred to the nearby club

Workington Town Workington Town is a semi-professional rugby league club based in Workington, West Cumbria, England. The club plays home games at Derwent Park and competes in the RFL League One, League One, the third tier of British rugby league system, Briti ...

. He struggled with a recurring knee injury at Workington and ultimately required four operations in six years. Purdham retired from professional rugby league after the 2008 season; however, he returned in 2009 to play amateur rugby league for Egremont Rangers.

Death

On 2 June 2010, Purdham was working with his uncle mending a wire fence on his father's farm near the Red Admiral Hotel at Boonwood, near

Gosforth Gosforth is an area of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, situated north of the Newcastle City Centre, City Centre. It constituted a separate Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district of Northumberland from 1895 until 1974 before of ...

when he was shot and killed. He became the ninth murder victim of

spree killer A spree killer is someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders in a short time, often in multiple locations. There are different opinions about what durations of time a killing spree may take place in. The United States ...

Derrick Bird, who killed 12 people and injured 11 others that day before committing suicide. In honour of Purdham and the other Cumbria victims, one minute's silence was observed before every rugby league match played in England on the weekend of 5–6 June 2010. The Workington club has announced that a memorial in honour of Purdham will be established. His funeral and cremation were held on 10 June 2010, attended by over 600 mourners.

Family

Purdham is survived by a wife and two children. He was the brother of

, a former player with Harlequins RL who played for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

five times.

References

External links

Garry Purdham Memorial Trust

Obituaries

BBC
*(archived by web.archive.org
The Rugby Football LeagueWorkington Town
*(archived by archive.is
Harlequins Rugby League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Purdham, Garry 1978 births 2010 deaths Deaths by firearm in England English rugby league players Mass murder victims Rugby league players from Whitehaven Rugby league second-rows Whitehaven R.L.F.C. players Workington Town players