Newsagent stabbed to death in shop
A NEWSAGENT has been stabbed to death during a robbery at his shop following another weekend of bloodshed in London.
The 54-year-old was attacked as he opened the store in Pinner, north-west London, shortly before 6am yesterday.
Paramedics were called to Marsh Food and Wine, but the father-of-one, named locally as “Ravi”, was pronounced dead 45 minutes later.
It was the second robbery at the shop within six months.
The murder came barely 36 hours after a 17-year-old was killed in Isleworth, west London, as a knife crime epidemic continues to escalate.
Elsewhere in the capital, two teenagers were stabbed in Westminster on Saturday night, a man in his 40s was stabbed in Dalston, and a 13-year-old was attacked with a blade in Brixton.
Police believe the newsagent’s killer made off with the shop’s till and they are appealing for witnesses to come forward in a bid to track him down and bring him to justice.
The Sri Lankan victim was described as “respectable and kind-eyed” by one of his regular customers who wept when she turned up at the shop yesterday to be confronted by a crime scene.
Nikki Walker-nash, 54, a healthcare worker, visited the newsagent twice a day and said Ravi always had her regular newspaper and drink ready for her.
“He was lovely and so kind. He was a great man, he had fluffy hair and glasses. His wife had recently been in hospital.
“He would always laugh at me because I never won the Lottery, we would always play a game of how much was left on my Oyster card.”
Lloyd Wood, 72, a retired builder, said all the locals knew him and described him as an “affable, cheerful and a hard-working fellow”.
Peter Brook, 55, a bookshop owner who lives nearby, said: “When someone violates your community, people will be shocked. I know the other traders I’ve spoken to are thinking ‘there but for the grace of God go the rest of us’.”
He also said staff at the newsagent delivered papers to local businesses and were all “kind and polite”.
“People sometimes don’t appreciate the people who come out at 5am to deliver a service to the community. When people like that are murdered going about their job it’s such a tragedy.”
Det Chief Insp Simon Stancombe said: “This was a violent robbery that has escalated, resulting in the murder of a man. It appears the till was stolen from the shop during this robbery and this may have been discarded by the suspect. If you have come across this, we want to hear from you. I am particularly keen to hear from anyone who saw a black Vauxhall Astra that was driven away at speed, south down Cecil Park, immediately after the attack.”
The shop was also targeted last year, according to a fellow newsagent who did not want to be named.
He said: “It happened six months ago, they robbed his shop in the middle of the night. They came for his cigarettes.”
Ministry of Justice figures show the number of crimes related to knives and other offensive weapons dealt with by the criminal justice system has hit a nine-year high.