A man has died after being stabbed in the neck with a screwdriver at a family funeral.
Peter John, 54, was found dying as his wife Donna, up to 50 other mourners and a priest gathered around her stepfather’s coffin at the City of London cemetery in East London.
The casket had just been lowered into the ground when a cemetery worker discovered Mr John bleeding and unconscious nearby.
Peter John, 54, was found dying as his wife Donna, up to 50 other mourners and a priest gathered around her stepfather’s coffin at the City of London cemetery in East London (pictured)
He had been attacked with a screwdriver after leaving the other mourners to visit the lavatory. Mrs John, 48, left the graveside of her stepfather David Brown to be told the shocking news.
‘I don’t even remember the last words Peter said to me,’ Mrs John told The Mail on Sunday. ‘All I remember is him saying, “I am going to the toilet” and that’s it.
‘Next thing I know, somebody said, “Everybody has to leave the cemetery because somebody has been murdered.” I never thought it was my husband. After that I sat on the grass verge in shock. I am still in shock.’
Mr John was airlifted to the Royal London Hospital in nearby Whitechapel where he was pronounced dead at 8.05pm with his wife and partner of 26 years by his side.
Mrs John said: ‘We did everything together. He did not have any enemies. We just lived a simple life in East Acton. I feel so awful and I don’t know what to think.’
Police arrested a 52-year-old man who was last night still in custody. Scotland Yard said officers were keeping an ‘open mind’ as to the motive.
Mr John was airlifted to the Royal London Hospital (pictured) in nearby Whitechapel where he was pronounced dead at 8.05pm with his wife and partner of 26 years by his side
It was unclear whether the killer was linked to the funeral. But within hours of the murder, forensics teams were carrying out searches at the scene.
The funeral that preceded Wednesday’s burial service took place at Our Lady of The Assumption Church in Bethnal Green. Father Tom O’Brien said: ‘I had to leave a little bit earlier in the hearse [after the burial] and only heard about it afterwards.’
A cemetery spokesman said the worker who discovered Mr John dying – a digger driver – was receiving ‘all the emotional support he needs’.
A post-mortem examination is likely to take place tomorrow.
