by Justin Davenport, Crime Correspondent
The suspected killer of gay vicar David Paget committed suicide within days of the murder, it emerged today. The 29-year-old man flung himself from the roof of a block of flats in the East End shortly after apparently fleeing from the vicarage in west London where the vicar was murdered. Police only realised the suicide victim's possible connection with the murder after they released an e-fit of the suspect a week after the killing. A police constable who had dealt with the suicide recognised the dead man as the man in the appeal picture. Detectives are now confident the suicide victim is the man they were hunting after examining CCTV pictures of the suspect and carrying out further tests. They are not at this stage releasing the name of the man.
Mr Paget, 46, was killed on 29 May by two knife blows to his chest in what police described as a "truly brutal" murder. His body was discovered surrounded by cushions on the sofa in the living room of his vicarage at St Andrew's Church, West Kensington. The e-fit image showed a scruffy white man, in his late twenties to early thirties, with a number of scars on his face, most noticeably one on his left cheek in the shape of an asterisk or star. He was bald or shaven-headed and between 5ft 7 in and 5ft 10in. His left eyebrow was pierced with a silver bar. Police today refused to go into details about the suicide victim, saying only that he had been found at the foot of a tower block in east London early this month. He is believed to come from east London. However, it is understood that he committed suicide following publicity about the case but before police released any details of his identity. The connection between him and the murder came only days before he was due to be cremated. A police source said: "The operation is being scaled down but we are still looking at the murder case. There are still matters to be sorted out."
Detectives launched a major investigation after the killing and are believed to have caught an image of the killer on CCTV as he ran through the grounds of the Queen's Tennis Club, which backs on to the grounds of the vicarage, on the night of the murder. Mr Paget lived alone at the vicarage with his pet dog Max, and neighbours say he was plagued by a series of break-ins at the church and disturbances outside his home 50 yards away. The clergyman operated an "open door" policy at the vicarage and often allowed young people to stay. Officers are questioning members of the local gay community and the congregation of St Andrew's, where he served for 12 years.