Former worker at Queen’s bank in late night assault
POLICE want to speak to four women who may have seen a banker killed by a single blow from another man.
Oliver Dearlove, 30, died in hospital on Sunday night after he was assaulted in the street in the early hours.
He had been on a night out with friends and three hours before the deadly attack had texted his girlfriend, telling her he loved her.
Mr Dearlove’s mother said she believed her son exchanged words with his attacker before he was punched, falling back and hitting his head on the ground.
Joy Wright, from Chislehurst, South East London, said: “Someone picked a fight, punched him and he fell backwards and that was it.
“I think someone said to him and his friends, ‘What are you looking at?’ and that was it. I think he stopped breathing when he hit the floor. His friends did CPR.” Police were called to Blackheath, South East London, at 12.45am on Sunday. Mr Dearlove, from nearby Eltham, was taken to hospital, where he died at 10.20pm. Mrs Wright said: “He was just perfect. I’m in a state of shock.” Mr Dearlove, who worked for private bank Duncan Lawrie and previously the Queen’s bankers Coutts, lived with his girlfriend of four years Claire Wheatley. She said: “We were trying to get some money together so we could buy a house. We had big plans. We were planning to have a baby. He was the kindest, most amazing person I’ve ever met and ever known.” Det Chief Insp Lee Watling said: “We are appealing for anyone who witnessed the incident, in particular a group of up to four white females who Mr Dearlove and his friends were speaking to around the time the offence occurred.”