Up and coming British cricketer shot dead in holiday robbery
A promising young British cricketer was shot dead by roadside robbers while on holiday in the Caribbean.
Adrian St John, 22, was held up by two gunmen when he stopped to pick up the daughter of a female passenger in San Juan, Trinidad. The robbers stole cash and phones from Mr St John and his friends then ordered him to drive off, but one shot him in the head.
One of the women steered the car to a main road and flagged down a police vehicle. Mr St John, whose ambition was to play for the West Indies, died shortly afterwards at the nearby Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.
Police arrrested a 24-year-old man on suspicion of murder. Mr St John, from south London, had gone to the island for its annual carnival, enjoying himself so much he stayed a few more days, despite the misgivings of his father who lives on the island.
He grew up in Kennington, minutes from the Oval cricket ground, and had had a passion for cricket since he was a young boy. Captain of the Chris Gayle Academy in London, he had played for Alleyn Cricket Club, Oxted and Limpsfield Cricket Club in Surrey, and for the University of Hertfordshire, from where he graduated in History and Philosophy in 2014.
Adrian Atherton, a cricket coach, had known Mr St John since he was 10. He said: “They were hoping that in the next couple of years he was going to do something big. He was a lovely kid.”