Father ‘knifed over a cigarette’

A fAther was stabbed to death for the price of a cigarette, his friends said yesterday.

Dennis Anderson, 39, was slashed across the throat by a man who confronted him in a 24-hour shop. Muhammad Khan, assistant manager of the store, said: ‘ the guy with the knife asked the other for free cigarettes, like as a favour or something.

‘they had an argument and he took out a knife. everyone was trying to stop him.’

friends said Mr Anderson, pictured, was a loving father to his teenage daughter. ‘Dennis had been at a friend’s birthday party and must have been coming home,’ said Luke roche, 29.

‘he was a family man and very popular, no one had a bad word to say about him. I honestly can’t think of anyone he’d had a fight with. he just wasn’t part of that life.’

Police are hunting the killer, described as being in his 30s, following the attack in east Dulwich, south-east London, in the early hours of Sunday.

eleven people have already been murdered in the capital this year. At least seven were stabbed.