MURDER squad detectives this week launched an investigation into the killing of a gay pensioner at his Hampstead home.
Roger Hendra, 65, was found dead at his Pond Street, South End Green home on Thursday night.
Police discovered him with a fatal stab wound to his neck after worried friends raised the alarm.
He was last seen alive a week earlier in a Hampstead shop and is believed to have been dead for several days when his body was found.
Detective Chief Inspector Michael Broster, leading the investigation, said there was no sign of any struggle or disturbance inside the top floor flat.
Officers in forensic overalls spent several hours hunting for clues on Friday before removing the body in the evening.
A post mortem at St Pancras Mortuary later confirmed the cause of death was “trauma to the neck”.
Shocked friends and neighbours described Mr Hendra, who was known to friends in the gay community by his middle name, ‘Osian’, as an intelligent, educated but shy man who had worked as a teacher and inherited a large amount of money.
He is understood to have broken up with a long-term, younger, South African boyfriend last year and to have protected his privacy keenly.
Police say he had no next of kin.
Neighbour Marion Henrion said: “It feels very odd to have a murder in your own street. I did not know Mr Hendra well but he came for lunch at my house a couple of years ago after I organised a Christmas dinner which he could not attend. He was a nice man but he kept himself to himself.”
Another neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “He was very intelligent and well read and had a lot of books in his flat. He had a real interest in classical music, but I think he was quite lonely.”
DCI Broster added: “Mr Hendra was last seen leaving his flat mid morning last Friday. We do not know where he went after that.
“We’re appealing to members of the public to help us trace his movements.”
Camden’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender forum, which worked closely with police to track “Gold Tooth”, a violent mugger who targeted gay men on Hampstead Heath last year, also urged “anyone who has any information as to his whereabouts in the time leading up to his murder” to contact police or the forum itself anonymously on 020 7470 8760.