YOUNG DAD STABBED TO DEATH IN STREET
NEIGHBOURS IN DESPERATE BATTLE TO SAVE MAN WHO ‘CONFRONTED YOBS’
TRIBUTES have been paid to a young dad stabbed to death in the street after ‘confronting yobs causing trouble.’
Mike Grimshaw, 34, was knifed in the neck outside his Sale home on Thursday night.
Friends said he was attacked after approaching a group of youths on Royton Avenue.
They said Mr Grimshaw was due to marry to his long-term partner.
A murder investigation was launched as forensic officers trawled the street for evidence on Friday morning.
Floral tributes were left on the street in the hours after the attack.
Police were called at around 11.10pm after Mr Grimshaw was attacked. They said yobs fled the scene and left him for dead.
Friend and neighbour Matthew Griffiths said: “Mike was a brilliant guy, a top lad.
“He was such a clever young man and a fantastic gentleman who would change your life. He changed mine from the moment I met him.
“Mike moved here about two years ago and was popular with everyone. He was an amazing man. He would always be there to help, and would do anything for anyone.
“He loved his kids, idolised them and was a brilliant dad.
“He was supposed to get married to his partner Michelle, the love of his life. They’d been together a long time and he proposed not so long ago. “He didn’t deserve this, any of it.” Officers believe Mr Grimshaw was ‘beckoned into the road by three other men’ and a ‘short scuffle’ ensued before he was stabbed. Det Chief Insp Estelle Mathieson, leading the investigation, said: “This has been a fast-moving enquiry and we have one teenager in custody, but our investigation continues.
“We have had a fantastic response from the public, that has provided a number of positive lines of enquiry but we still need the community’s help to find the men responsible for taking the life of this young man and leaving his children to grow up without a dad. Our thoughts are with his family at the difficult time and they continue to be supported by speciallytrained officers.
“I would urge anyone who either witnessed the incident itself, or has information that would help us, to get in contact.
“We will always treat information with the strictest of confidence and you can pass information to us anonymously - but please, do it as a matter of urgency.”
A 16-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody for questioning.
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 – quoting reference number 2327 of July 20 – or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
He was an amazing man. He would always be there to help and do anything for anyone Friend Matthew Griffiths