Niece pays tribute to 'much loved' Big Issue seller

"It's about talking and remembering that people who are selling the Big Issue or asking for a little bit of change - they're people too."

Megan is talking about her uncle, Paul Crawford, a Big Issue Seller who died by suicide over the Christmas period aged 48.

A memorial service took place at St Michael & All Angels in Summertown, Oxford, on Friday, a short walk from the bench - since adorned in flowers - where to locals he was a regular friendly face selling copies of the magazine.

Reflecting with the BBC on the outpouring of sadness in the wake of her uncle's death, Megan says: "We are all so far more loved than we'll ever know."

• If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, information and support can be found at the BBC's Action Line.

For years Paul was a fixture outside the Summertown shops, along with his fellow Big Issue seller Dan, who died earlier last year.

Megan explains that Paul was present in her life when she was younger, often babysitting, and being "so much fun" and "just a big kid".

But there came a point when he became involved in hard drugs and contact between him and his sister - Megan's mother - was cut.

Her uncle "promised that he would keep his distance", Megan says, which "really broke my mum's heart".

Contact after that point was often in supervised settings, but Megan says after her mother died she and her sister "tried to reach out when we were a bit older, and when he wasn't really on that stuff anymore".

"He'd gotten himself quite clean and had done really, really well for himself," she remembers.

"But I think he was just so afraid of breaking that promise to my mum that he didn't kind of let us in."

The Reverend Gavin Knight, vicar of St Michael and All Angels, previously told the BBC that Paul and Dan were "part of the community and very much loved by all who knew them".

"It's very heartfelt some of these messages you read on these cards about how Paul had given shoppers in Summertown, office workers and passers-by, just a sense of dignity," he says.

"It's broken a lot of people's hearts here in Summertown."

More than £5,000 was fundraised for Paul's funeral.

Megan says his death is a fitting time to think about Big Issue sellers and other people on the streets that we pass by on a regular basis.

"You don't need often to give money to make a difference," she suggests.

"Sometimes it's just taking the time to give that nod, give that hello, give that acknowledgement that someone exists, because often when you are doing that kind of thing you become invisible, and Paul was very lucky that that didn't happen as much because the Summertown community all knew and loved him."

She adds: "You're acknowledging the person that's there, remembering that they're a person too, and they deserve that."

You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.