The shopkeeper who aided a stabbed Shirley builder has told of his horror at seeing the man bleed to death in his store.

Mahendran Kandiah, 44, was behind the counter on the night Mark Corcoran came in pleading for help.

The 26-year-old had been mortally stabbed, police believe, just yards from the shop and had sought help in Subitha Food and Wine in Whitehorse Lane, South Norwood.

Mr Kandiah, who has lived in Croydon for 14 years, had only been working in the shop for three months and Mr Corcoran was a regular customer.

Mr Kandiah said: “Mark had come in before and he was short about 60p so I told him to come back and pay it next time. He did that quite often but he was a good guy so we didn’t mind.

“He did come in once and steal a beer, he ran across the road with it to the flats, we chased him out of the shop but not into the flats, it’s too dangerous over there. He came in and paid for it the next day.”

Mr Corcoran had already been in the shop four times that day, the last time to buy two beers.

Mr Kandiah said: “The next time I saw him that evening he came into the shop and the front of his top was covered in blood.

“He was pleading with me to help him, he kept saying ‘help me, help me, help me, I’ve been stabbed’.

“We called the police and the ambulance. People told us to give him first aid so we took him to the back of the shop and tried to stop the bleeding.

“I was in shock, it was horrible. I have never seen anything like that before.”

The ambulance arrived and paramedics struggled to save Mr Corcoran and he was later pronounced dead.

Mr Kandiah said: “This area is very dangerous, I told my boss that I would not come back to work at night unless there was two of us on.

“In India, something like this wouldn’t happen. If people saw that they would try and stop whoever was doing it or catch them afterwards. In England people just turn around and pretend they don’t see it.”

A man was arrested and bailed in connection with the murder last week.