The 75-year-old man killed in the Westminster terror attack was the former window cleaner of Winston Churchill, friends have revealed.
Leslie Rhodes, from south London, died a day after being seriously injured when terrorist Khalid Masood mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge.
He had been attending an appointment at St Thomas’s Hospital when Masood went on a rampage – killing four and injuring 50.
He suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung in the attack. He died after falling into a coma.
Friends of Mr Rhodes told The Independent told how he was a “kind and gentle” man who had worked as a window cleaner in Croydon for 20 years.
They said that he had been “proud” that one of his long-term clients had been the former Prime Minister.
A client and friend of his Janine Roebuck said: “Les was my much loved window cleaner for 20 years.
“You couldn’t wish to meet a kinder, gentler man. He cleaned the windows of Chartwell – Winston Churchill’s home – for many years.
“It was something he was so proud of.”
Mrs Roebuck said that Mr Rhodes would still clean the windows of former clients and friends, despite being retired.
“He was retired but would still do a few favours for people I suppose. He was more of a friend.”
Speaking of his death, she said: “It’s tragic. I’m very sorrowful not to see him again and that such a sweet soul met such a horrible death.
“He was a very gentle and shy person. He was warm and always smiling and it was a joy to see him on a monthly basis.
“He was a gentleman in every sense of the word.”
Mr Rhodes is said to have moved to Clapham in the 1970s but had never married or had children of his own.
His neighbours and friends were at his bedside at the time of his death.
As well as Mr Rhodes, Masood killed American tourist Kurt Cochran, Spanish mother-of-two Aysha Frade and PC Keith Palmer – whom he stabbed at the gates of Parliament.
