Sutton dad hacked to death with machetes in front of shocked drinkers

The man named this afternoon as 28-year-old David John Stevenson was murdered yesterday evening (Sunday, August 9) when two men armed with machetes slashed him to death at the New Inn on Myrtle Rd in Sutton.

Mr Stevenson, a scaffolder, was drinking with friends after watching Chelsea play Manchester United in the Community Shield when a fight broke out over a woman.

The attackers dragged him into the garden at the rear of the pub and set upon him with the weapons as drinkers fled the scene.

It is understood the fight began as an argument involving a woman Mr Stevenson had recently started a relationship with.

Three men aged 20, 24 and 56 have been arrested by police in connection with the killing.

Father Roger John Stevenson, 54, a retired firefighter, said he believed two of his son’s attackers were thrown out of the pub, but his son was later stabbed in full view of families.

Speaking exclusively to the Sutton Guardian, Mr Stevenson said his son, a former Stanley Park High School student, was a “loveable rogue".

He said: “He was loved by lots of people.

“He was a very popular man, he was everybody’s friend. He was always laughing.”

Former partner Hayley Beach, a school office administrator at Camden Primary School, said Mr Stevenson was a “very good dad” to his two children Grace and her old brother Luke, eight.

She said: “He would take them to football every week and down to the beach.

“I have told Luke that his father has gone to heaven.”

His twin brother Ricky James Stevenson, 28, a carpenter, said: “Obviously I will miss him; he’s a part of me.

“He’s gone and he isn’t going to come back. None of this seems real at the moment.”

Mr Stevenson’s mother Lesley, who now lives in Canada, is flying home for her son’s funeral.

After the attack, Lind Road, where the rear of the pub is, was cordoned off by police.

Only residents and staff from the road’s shops could walk into the road after being properly identified.

All cars coming in and out of the restricted area were being searched by officers.

A police officer at the scene said a family tried to lay floral tributes at the back of the pub, but were unable because forensic examination was still taking place.

A neighbour on the Myrtle Road side of the pub, who did not want to be identified, said: “I came back home at about 7.30pm and I saw a lot of comotion outside.

"I had noticed Lind Road was closed by police, but didn’t know why.

"When I was getting in, I saw this girl on the phone outside the pub saying ‘someone wants me dead’.”

Another neighbour said: “I didn’t hear anything, but my grandson heard from his bedroom at the back a lot of noise and people screaming.”

Passersby on the lower end of Lind Road startled by the police presence slowed down or stopped to make enquiries.

One of them said: “This is horrible. But I’m not surprised because the people who go to this pub aren’t very nice.

"They all know each other, but they aren’t very nice.”

A witness, who did not want to be named, said a couple were arguing about “an ex” when two men ran in and began stabbing the man with machetes.

She said: “They went into the garden and stabbed him in the stomach.

“They then fled and the police came."

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