The mother of a London banker who died after being assaulted on a night out with friends has said her “perfect” son had “so much more life to live”.

Detectives have launched a murder investigation after Oliver Dearlove, 30, died in hospital on Sunday night, less than 24 hours after he was assaulted in south-east London.

Dearlove, who worked as a relationship manager for the private bank Duncan Lawrie, and had previously worked for Coutts and Barclays, had been out in the Blackheath area of London with former university friends when he was reportedly punched by an unknown assailant. No arrests have been made.

Dearlove, who lived with his girlfriend in Eltham, was a keen football fan and played as a forward for his local team Lord Hood FC. He was set to go on holiday with friends to Las Vegas next week for a collective 30th birthday celebration.

His mother, Joy Wright, from Chislehurst, south-east London, told the Guardian she last saw her son on Thursday.

“He was very easygoing, lots and lots of friends, played lots of football,” she said. “He studied hard at school. He worked for a private bank in Belgravia. He had been travelling for a year. He did what most nice people do.”



Dearlove came from a big family, Wright said, with six siblings and stepsiblings: younger twin brothers, a third brother, two stepbrothers and a stepsister.



Describing what she believed to have happened in the early hours of Sunday morning, she said: “He and his friends all met up, had lunch, dinner, drinks. He texted his girlfriend that he loved her around 10pm. Someone picked a fight, punched him and [he] fell backwards and that was it.

“I don’t think there was an altercation. I think someone said to him and his friends ‘what are you looking at’ and that was it. I think he stopped breathing when he hit the floor. His friends gave him CPR.”

She added: “He was just perfect. I’m in a state of shock. We have friends and family here and we’re all pulling together. Sometimes I’m alright, sometimes I’m not. I’m absolutely devastated for him. [He had] so much more life to live.”



Claire Wheatley, Dearlove’s girlfriend of nearly four years, said they had recently discussed having a baby together.

“We were trying to get some money together so we could buy a house together,” she said. “We had big plans. We were planning on having a baby as well.

“He was the kindest person. He was the most amazing person I’ve ever met and ever known. I’m so lucky to have known him.”

Wheatley, who met Dearlove at a New Year’s Eve party, said she received a message from him at around 10pm on Saturday simply saying “love you”.

“He and his friends aren’t the kind of guys who look for trouble. They like having a good time and a bit of banter. But he’s just the kindest person and would normally cower away from things like that, from any altercation.”

Metropolitan police were called at around 12.45am on Sunday morning to reports of a man assaulted in Tranquil Vale, near Blackheath station.

Police officers, London ambulance and the air ambulance all attended the scene. Dearlove was taken to an east London hospital where he died at 10.22pm on Sunday night. A postmortem will be held on Tuesday at Greenwich mortuary.

DCI Lee Watling, of the homicide and major crime command, said: “We are retaining an open mind at this stage of the investigation with regards to a motive and our primary aim is to establish how Mr Dearlove came to receive the injuries which led to his death.

“We are appealing for anyone who was at Tranquil Vale who witnessed the incident, in particular a group of up to four white females who Mr Dearlove and his friends were speaking to around the time the offence occurred.”