Father-of-Two and Ex-boxer Murdered ‘Protecting Children From Drug Dealers’

File photo showing a British police officer setting up a cordon near the scene where a man, 20, collapsed after being fatally stabbed in London on April 5, 2018. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

A former boxer and father-of-two was murdered after telling drug dealers to stop selling outside his London home.

Bus driver Ian Tomlin died after being brutally battered at an apartment building in Battersea, south London, on Wednesday, Oct. 17, the Daily Mail reported.

Witnesses said there was “blood everywhere” and claimed Tomlin was also stabbed in the neck during the confrontation.

Scotland Yard officials said that when responding officers arrived, “A 46-year-old man was found with injuries after having been assaulted. He was pronounced dead at the scene.”

“All suspects had fled the scene prior to police arrival,” police said.

‘A Very Good Father’

The victim’s grieving father Cecil Tomlin, 84, said he believed drug dealers killed his son.

“He has been afraid of them,” the elder Tomlin told reporters at the scene, according to The Metro. “They were selling drugs outside his house. He said, ‘Don’t sell here!’”

He called on the authorities to seek justice for his son.

“He was a very good father. I know he was a good man, he was very good, he was very kind to everybody. Everybody likes him,” Cecil Tomlin said. ‘The government needs to do something because they are very bad men.'”

No Arrests, Inquiries Continue

Police have made no arrests and said the investigation continues.

A witness who asked to remain anonymous told reporters: “The first floor is used for drug dealing. Police know it happens every single day.”

“He was on his back in his boxers and police were trying to resuscitate him. He’s obviously been stabbed in his neck and the head. There was blood everywhere,” said the witness.

Another witness said: “I’m absolutely terrified. He was a young, strong really lovely black guy who was the nicest, kindest person and he was really muscular.”

“You could tell he was a boxer. If they can kill him they can kill anyone,” said the witness, according to The Metro.

“I believe it was five people—it would have taken five, it’s just terrifying.”

Violent Crime on the Rise in Britain

Tomlin is the 113th murder victim in London so far this year.

Newly released statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) report also show the murder rate in the UK has soared by 14 percent from 630 last year to 719 this year.

“The number of homicides increased following a long-term decline,” reads the Oct. 18 report on crime in England and Wales, compiled for the year ending in June 2018.

The findings also reveal a continued rise in the number of police recorded offenses involving knives or sharp instruments.

“The number of admissions to hospital in England for assaults involving a sharp instrument has been increasing,” the report notes. “Many of these lower-volume, higher-harm types of violence tend to be concentrated in London and other metropolitan areas.”

“Over recent decades, we’ve seen continued falls in overall levels of crime but in the last year the trend has been more stable,” said statistician Joe Traynor, of the ONS Centre for Crime and Justice.

“We saw rises in some types of theft and in some lower-volume but higher-harm types of violence, balanced by a fall in the high-volume offense of computer misuse. There was no change in other high-volume offenses such as overall violence, criminal damage and fraud,” said Traynor.

“To put today’s crime survey figures into context, only 2 out of 10 adults experienced crime in the latest year,” he added.