A father-of-one punched to death in a supermarket row over queue-jumping was an innocent bystander attacked in a case of mistaken identity.

Kevin Tripp, a 57-year-old engineer, suffered serious head injuries after being assaulted at the Sainsbury's store in Colliers Wood, near Wimbledon, while waiting in a checkout queue. He later died in hospital.

Witnesses said that the incident took place after a female customer in the queue became enraged by a shopper who pushed ahead of her, and telephoned her boyfriend.

When he arrived at the scene, "he attacked the first person he saw". Mr Tripp, who was standing nearby, was seen to fall backwards after being punched and cracked his head on the ground.

Mr Tripp, who lived with his partner Josephine, a secretary, and his five-year-old daughter, was taken to St George's Hospital in nearby Tooting, but died of his injuries.

His distraught partner and daughter were today collected from their nearby terraced home by relatives. They were too upset to talk, but neighbours paid tribute to Mr Tripp, who was known as a quiet, caring member of the community, who suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome.

His local MP Siobhain McDonagh, who knew him as a family friend, and whose mother lived nearby, led a call for the public to "take responsibility" for their actions.

"Kevin was a quiet, self-effacing man. The last thing in the world he would do would be to become involved in anything violent," she said. "He just wasn’t that sort of guy. He just got on with life."

"It’s completely unbelievable that a store thousands of people use a week should be the scene of such unprovoked violence. He lived in our street for more than 20 years. In the past, my parents used to help him do a bit of shopping because he had ME."

Ms McDonagh added: "On a wider level, this is about acceptable behaviour, whether it is street violence or road rage. We’ve got to begin to take responsibility for our actions. This sort of behaviour is just outrageous."

The MP's 70-year-old mother, Breda, a retired nurse, said: "He was a very nice chap, a sociable man, co-operative, who would do anything he could for you. I saw them almost every day when I’d be out sweeping the front and she’d pass by with her little girl."

She added: "I cannot understand it happening in an area like this. There was no reason in the world why this should happen to Kevin. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

The incident, the latest in a series of violent attacks in the capital, comes only days after Arsema Dawit, a 15-year-old girl, was killed as she returned home to her family's flat in Waterloo.

She bled to death in the lift of the Matheson Lang Gardens block of flats after being stabbed ten times.

The recent surge in violent incidents across London led Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, to urge parents to confront their children over weapons in the same way they did with drugs and drinking.

*A man appeared in court today charged with Mr Tripp’s murder. Tony Virasami, 37, from Catford, southeast London, was remanded into custody at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court. Wearing a white T-shirt and tracksuit bottoms, he spoke only to confirm his name and address. He will appear at the Old Bailey on September 18.

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