New appeal to find van murderers

The family of a man killed as he tried to stop thieves breaking into his van made a fresh plea for help today to catch the murderers, as a new picture of their vehicle came to light.

Balbir Matharu, 54, was knocked down and dragged 40 yards under the wheels of the thieves' Ford Mondeo two-litre Ghia, registration M916 AVW, on 12 January last year.

He had confronted two men trying to break into his Mercedes van parked in Morrisons car park in Stratford, east London and stood in front of their car as they tried to escape.

Witnesses said the driver deliberately drove at Mr Matharu, knocking him to the ground and then dragged him along.

His family now hopes the new CCTV picture taken on a congestion charge camera on 28 November 2005 in Tottenham Court Road will prick the conscience of someone who knows the killers' identity.

DCI John Macdonald, investigating the murder, said: "From information received we believe the suspects may have told a number of people what they had done."

Anyone with information is asked to contact the incident room on 020 8345 3985.