A RENOWNED doctor and his wife were stabbed to death by an intruder as they sat down for breakfast at their home on an exclusive estate in North London yesterday.

Police called to the Holly Lodge estate on Highgate Hill found the bodies of Derek Robinson, a retired consultant paediatrician, and his wife Jean, a music teacher. Both are thought to have struggled fiercely with their killer before they died in what officers described as a bloodbath.

Detective Superindent Sue Hill said: “This is a horrific attack — these people were in their own home and they were slaughtered.”

The alarm was raised by a painter and decorator who had a key to let himself into the three-bedroom semi-detached house. He is thought to have disturbed the intruder, who was then seen clambering over a back fence. The workman thought that the intruder was heavily bloodstained. Some four hours later a man with a hand injury was arrested at King’s Cross station three miles away.

Residents of Holly Lodge were said last night to have been devastated by the murders. Dr Robinson, who was in his seventies, was renowned for improving childcare in the Third World and for treating child torture victims in Africa. He has also practised as a community paediatrician in York and in Newham, East London.

Colleagues described him as a decent, quiet and professional consultant who had dedicated his life to the welfare of children. Professor Andrew Tomkins, of the Centre for International Child Health based at Great Ormond Street, said: “He was highly regarded for the work he did in improving the health of children in poor countries.

“He was a quiet, humble man. I believe he was a member of Physicians against Torture and had a keen interest in the treatment of child victims of torture.”

Dr Robinson had also helped to bring African paediatricians to Britain to learn from their British counterparts. Dr Mazin Alfaham, a paediatrician at Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, said: “When people say that somebody has their heart in the right place, that applies exactly to him. He devoted his career to helping needy and deprived children.”

Dr and Mrs Robinson, who had two adult daughters, had been seen by neighbours about half an hour before they are thought to have killed at about 8am yesterday. There was no sign of forced entry and police believe that nothing was stolen. The murder weapon, believed to be a knife, had not been found last night.

Dr Robinson had been a co-ordinator for the Neighbourhood Watch and the local chairman, David Eaton, described him as the community champion. “To lose a co-ordinator in any circumstances is tragic, but to lose one in these circumstances is heartbreaking. The most important thing for neighbours is to remember what he did and that they have lost their community champion.”

Highgate Hill is one of London’s most expensive suburbs, but its residents say that the area has been plagued with drug crime after a police crackdown on dealing in Camden and Kentish Town. The Robinsons’ neighbours said yesterday that a half-naked man had been ringing doorbells on the estate on Thursday night, hours before the killings.

The Holly Lodge estate was first developed in the 1920s after the death of Angela Burdet-Coutts, of the banking family.

It is next door to Highgate Cemetery, where Karl Marx is buried, and houses there now sell for well over £1 million.

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