A manhunt and murder inquiry has been launched after a construction worker was found dead on the roof of a metal refinery in London’s jewellery district, Hatton Gardens, last week on Tuesday (17 April).
The man was thought at first thought to have suffered a fall from height, but it was later established that he died after suffering what police later described as a “vicious assault”.
Police are searching for a suspect, understood to be a colleague who fled the scene.
The victim was a 47-year-old employee of Essex contractor G3, which is engaged on a six-month project to build a meeting room on the roof of the building, as well as extending the lift shaft to serve it and fitting a new lift.
The suspect is a man in his twenties wearing a navy-blue fleece, blue jeans and brown boots, who fled the scene and took a Tube at Chancery Lane.
The premises belong to a company called Presman Mastermelt, one of the world’s largest precious metal processors and recyclers.
The owner of a nearby jewellery setters told the London Evening Standard: “There were nine emergency response vehicles and two ambulances. Some of them were wearing helmets and carrying orange stretchers and a couple had breathing apparatus.”
Detective Chief Inspector Luke Marks said: “Our inquiries have established that the victim was viciously attacked by a male suspect who is understood to have worked at the same site.”
A 24-year-old man was initially arrested on suspicion of murder the day after it happened. He was taken to a south London police station, de-arrested for the murder offence, and re-arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. He has been bailed pending further enquiries to a date in mid-May.
Image: The site in London’s diamond district where the murder took place (Presman Mastermelt)
