A 24-year-old man who was fatally stabbed in Greenford on Friday had learning difficulties and will have been easily led, his family has said.
Dean Mayley, from Northolt, had suffered from the condition microcephaly, which meant he had the mental age of a nine year old and will have been vulnerable.
Police have launched a murder investigation and are appealing for witnesses. They were called to Ruislip Road in Greenford at 5.20pm on Friday (February 7) and Dean was taken by ambulance to St Mary’s Hospital where he died later that evening. There have been no arrests at this stage.
Detectives have released a picture of Dean which shows him hugging his seven-year-old nephew, Callum. His family have described the pair as 'inseparable'.
Detective Chief Inspector Matt Bonner, leading the investigation, said: "Dean was a vulnerable young man who had travelled alone to the Greenford Broadway area to visit a relative. He had made this journey many times before without incident and there was no reason that this journey should have been any different. Sadly, that was not the case and Dean was later to die following what appears to have been an unprovoked attack.
"We know that he arrived in The Broadway by bus around 4.25pm and I am keen to piece together his movements between then and 5.15pm when he was assaulted by three or four males further along Ruislip Road. That group of males are responsible for the assault and death of a vulnerable man who would have been in no position to defend himself from such an attack.
"Dean's family are distraught by his murder. The people who attacked him are simply vicious cowards. I would urge anyone with information, who has yet to come forward and speak to my team, to think about the devastation this apparently random act of violence has caused."
A post-mortem examination will be scheduled in due course.
Anyone with information should call the incident room on 020 8358 0200 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
An incident room is open at Hendon under Detective Chief Inspector Matt Bonner from the Homicide and Major Crime Command.
