The body of a murdered shop owner who had been stabbed in the neck was discovered by his girlfriend at his Streatham home.

The grim revelation was made after friends and relatives of Andrew Brown, who ran nearby Trade Scooters Direct in Westcote Road, became concerned that he hadn't been in contact with them since leaving work the previous evening.

After he failed to turn up for work the following day his girlfriend found a locksmith to let her into his home.When they entered the flat in Percy House in Pringle Gardens, in the mid-afternoon on November 8, they found the body of Mr Brown with knife wounds to his neck.

A police spokesman said: "A murder investigation into the death of Mr Brown has been launched but at this stage it is too early to speculate on the motives of an attack."We are of course asking for anyone who may know anything about Mr Brown's movements or anything relevant about his lifestyle to get in touch with us."Mr Brown, 28, had left work in his red Vauxhall Vectra between 6.15pm and 6.30pm on Thursday evening.

His car was later seen double parked in Ribblesdale Road shortly afterwards before apparently arriving home just before 7pm.Police are now appealing for anyone with information about his movements on the Thursday evening to come forward.

Mr Brown arrived in London two to three years ago from his home town of Norwich, where his family still live, and police would also like to hear from anyone there who knew him.A postmortem held at St George's Hospital on Saturday gave the cause of death as a stab wound to the neck.Floral tributes to Mr Brown were being left outside his busy scooter shop this week, while inside police investigators were carefully examining the premises. One read poignantly: "Thank you for looking after me. We all miss you."

Anyone with information should call DCI Darrell Shephard of the Serious Crime Group on 020 8284 7610, or Crimestoppers anonomously on 0800 555 111.

November 15, 2002 16:00