GLOUCESTER, England — The father of a murdered hairdresser is doing everything he can to get Facebook to remove pictures of his deceased daughter and her killer from her social media account.
Hollie Gazzard was stabbed 14 times by her ex-boyfriend, Asher Maslin, and was attacked in front of horrified colleagues while working at Fringe Benefits and La Bella Beauty salon on Feb. 18, 2014, the Daily Mail reported.
Paramedics and police officers rushed to the scene but were unable to save the 20-year-old’s life.
Maslin was sentenced to life in prison, but Hollie’s father Nick says Gazzard the lingering images of his daughter and Maslin on Facebook have made it difficult to move on.
“It makes me feel sick when I look at those photos, and to be truthful I try not to go into her Facebook site as I get quite distressed by it,” Hollie’s father Nick Gazzardtold the BBC.
Gazzard has contacted the company to remove the pictures but Facebook refused saying, “When a profile is memorialized following someone’s death, changes cannot be made.”
A Facebook spokesperson released the following statement:
“We memorialize accounts to provide a place of remembrance and maintain the profile as it was when the person passed away.
“We understand in tragic cases such as this it may mean there are sometimes painful reminders but memorialized accounts are designed to preserve the privacy of the deceased.”
As a result, he’s taken matters into his own hands, starting a petition that calls for Facebook to honor the family’s request. So far, it has been signed by 5,800 people.
Gazzard says he is determined to find a way to force the company to remove the photos, regardless of Facebook’s copyright laws.
