Hit and run victim, 47, who was deliberately mown down in supermarket car park

Murder detectives have named a man who was deliberately mown down in a car park.

John Avers, 47, was hit by a car which fled the scene in Dagenham, east London.

Paramedics attended but he died at the scene a short while later after suffering multiple injuries, a post-mortem found.

Police believe he was ‘deliberately harmed’ shortly before midnight on Sunday.

Extensive enquiries are ongoing but no arrests have been made.

The Met Police’s Specialist Crime Command are appealing for any witnesses to come forward.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Wrigley, from the Met’s Specialist Crime North team, leads the investigation. He said: ‘My thoughts are with John’s family at this very sad time.

‘I and my officers believe John was deliberately harmed and we are treating this incident as a murder inquiry.

‘We are using every available tactic to trace who was responsible for John’s death.

‘I know that there were people in the area and I am asking them to tell us what they saw or heard.

‘If you know anything at all about this horrible crime, please don’t keep it to yourself.

‘If you don’t want to talk to us, you can speak to Crimestoppers anonymously. The most important thing you can do is share what you know.’

His next of kin have been informed and are being supported by specially-trained officers.

Enquiries to establish the circumstances surrounding Mr Avers’ death are still ongoing, Scotland Yard said, and a post-mortem exam found he suffered multiple serious injuries

Medics worked on Mr Avers in the car park where he was found but he was sadly pronounced dead at the scene and police closed the car park for several hours to examine it for evidence

Witnesses at the time said they believed Mr Avers had been run over four or five times in the car park. 

A shop worker who was about to leave after a night shift said at the time, he saw paramedics working on Mr Avers after he had been struck.

Shahid Khattack, store manager at the nearby Iceland that backs on to the scene, saw him lying in the car park after the attack.

The 32-year-old said: ‘I was about to come out of the shop out the back when I saw the paramedics and emergency services.

‘They were still working on him, pumping his chest, doing CPR, trying to save him. It was a shocking thing to see.

‘We have a lot of trouble and threats from shoplifters, but you don’t expect to see that.’ 

The 47-year-old victim was pronounced dead at the scene in Dagenham, east London

Mr Khattack added: ‘People I’ve spoken to who saw it said he was run over about four or five times.’

Other witnesses also claimed to have seen a car repeatedly run over the victim as he was lying on the ground.

A man in his 20s said: ‘I heard something that sounded like someone groaning. I kept hearing it so went to the window and saw him lying, groaning on the ground.

‘Then I saw a car come in and run over him. At first I was so shocked I couldn’t tell what really happened, then it reversed and went ‘bang’ straight over him again.

‘I was so shocked I couldn’t believe it. I was like ‘did I actually just see that?’ I told my mum and she called the police. It was so crazy.’

Anyone with information should call 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously.