A vigil for a flower seller stabbed to death while ‘intervening in a mugging’ will be held at his market stall in north London.

Tony Eastlake, 55, who worked at the Essex Road stall in Islington, since he was 14, was killed on Saturday.

Police and paramedics battled to save his life but he was pronounced dead at the scene just after 5.30pm.

People who knew the much-loved father are planning to gather in remembrance at 6pm tonight at the spot where he ran his stall.

A GoFundMe page to raise money has been set up by a family friend in support of Tony’s heartbroken family.

Paying tribute, Pam Harvey wrote: ‘Tony was a gentleman. So laid back and a true Islington lad.

‘All of us that had the pleasure of knowing Tony, whether it was most of our life, a customer at his flower stall where he started work there at the age of 14 years old, to have a laugh and joke with, to tell your problems to or just to say hello.

‘Everyone had time to stop and talk to him and you would see him laughing and smiling away.’

She added that his family – Lisa, Pauline and only daughter Paige – are ‘distraught’.

Detectives continue to investigate and have confirmed they are treating his death as a murder.

In a statement released over the weekend, his grieving family said: ‘Our hearts are broken forever at the loss of such a very special man.

‘A man who was loved by everybody in the Islington community, who is remembered as kind and caring and always laughing, but most importantly a father who leaves behind a devastated family, Lisa, Pauline, and his only daughter and best friend Paige, who he adored.’

They continued: ‘Tony worked on the flower stall on Essex Road since he was 14 years old and was there through rain or shine, a smiling and friendly face to so many of us.

‘There have already been hundreds of messages of support for him from all those who knew and loved him over the years.’

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