‘I’m broken-hearted’: father pays tribute to student, 21, stabbed in Primrose Hill

Finbar Sullivan, who ‘loved movies and making films’, had gone to London park to use new camera, says father

Finbar Sullivan

A film student who was stabbed to death in London’s Primrose Hill was a “beautiful, lovely, outgoing, loving” man, his father has said.

Finbar Sullivan, 21, was stabbed in a fight in the north London park in the early evening on Tuesday and was pronounced dead at the scene.

His father, Christopher Sullivan, said his son had gone to the park – a renowned beauty spot in the capital popular with tourists and residents – to use a new camera he had been given for his birthday.

“This is the worst tragedy I could ever imagine,” the 65-year-old said. “He’s my only son … I had him when I was 45. He can never be replaced. He’d just bought a new camera, we all chipped in for his 21st birthday, and he took it up there to do a bit of filming.”

Sullivan, a musician and founder of the 1980s band Blue Rondo à la Turk, said his son had wanted to become a cameraman like his grandfather Michael Seresin, who worked on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Rambo III.

“I’m so broken-hearted, I can’t believe it. He was the most beautiful, lovely, outgoing, loving boy. He was just a really lovely person. And why he was targeted, we have no idea,” Sullivan told the Daily Mail.

Sullivan said he rushed to Primrose Hill as soon as he was informed of the incident – of which police said video footage was circulating online. “I got the call at about six that he’d been stabbed, so I rushed up there,” Sullivan said. “I wasn’t allowed in because it was a crime scene, and by that point he’d had 20 minutes of CPR. He’d obviously died.

“It’s Primrose Hill, for God’s sake … it’s like Hyde Park. It’s not somewhere you expect this.”

Sullivan was a student at the London Screen Academy and had reportedly produced music videos for drill rap artists under the name Sully Shot It.

“All I can tell you is he was the subject of an indiscriminate stabbing. He was not a gang member,” his father told the Mail. “He was just a little groovy 21-year-old who loved movies and making films. He didn’t drink, he didn’t smoke, he didn’t go out.”

The Metropolitan police have urged “anyone who has any information, including photos or videos” to get in touch.

Detectives specifically appealed to a young female witness captured in footage wearing a pink vest, blue denim shorts and black trainers, who appeared to film the incident on her mobile phone.

DI Andy Griffin, who is leading the investigation, said: “I believe this woman’s account of events, as well as the video she captured, will provide vital evidence. She has not committed any offence but we are urging her, or anyone who may know her, to come forward and assist our investigation. We need to speak to her as soon as possible.”

No arrests have yet been made and the investigation continues.