Finbar Sullivan’s final trip to Primrose Hill ended in horror — now a £20,000 reward has put one wanted man at the center of a desperate London manhunt
He went to one of London’s most famous viewpoints with a brand-new camera, expecting nothing more than a day of filming. Hours later, 21-year-old filmmaking student Finbar Sullivan was dead. Now detectives have released a photograph of Jordan Asije and announced a £20,000 reward — as the hunt for the man they believe may hold crucial answers enters a dramatic new phase.
It was supposed to be an ordinary trip.
A young filmmaker.
A new camera.
A famous London view.
Instead, Finbar Sullivan’s visit to Primrose Hill ended in a devastating act of violence that has left his family demanding answers and detectives hunting for another man they believe was involved.
Police have now turned up the pressure.
A reward of up to £20,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of Jordan Asije, 22, who is wanted in connection with Sullivan’s killing. Detectives have also publicly urged Asije to surrender.
And as the search intensifies, the story of what happened on that busy London hillside is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
He went there to test a birthday gift
Perhaps the most heartbreaking detail about Finbar’s final hours is also one of the simplest.
He was carrying a new film camera he had received for his birthday.
His father, Christopher Sullivan, has described how his son had gone to Primrose Hill to try it out.
For a young man pursuing filmmaking, it was exactly the kind of opportunity that might normally have represented excitement rather than danger.
Finbar was a filmmaking student with ambitions to build a career behind the camera.
His grandfather, Michael Seresin, is also a celebrated filmmaker and cinematographer whose credits include major productions such as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
But Finbar never made it home.
A busy viewpoint became a crime scene
Police were called to the Primrose Hill viewpoint at around 6:41 p.m. on April 7, after reports of a fight.
Officers and paramedics arrived to find Finbar suffering from stab wounds.
Despite emergency efforts, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The location made the tragedy even more shocking.
This was not an isolated stretch of countryside.
It was one of London’s best-known public viewpoints.
There were people around.
There were witnesses.
And investigators have been examining footage and other evidence in an effort to reconstruct exactly what happened.
The alleged attack was brutally violent
Court proceedings have since shed more light on the prosecution case.
Prosecutors have alleged that Finbar was attacked during a violent confrontation involving several men.
According to evidence reported from the Old Bailey, he was allegedly punched, kicked and stamped on before being stabbed.
One alleged stab wound to his thigh proved fatal.
The details are horrifying.
But they are allegations presented as part of criminal proceedings, and the defendants remain entitled to the presumption of innocence unless and until proven guilty.
That distinction matters as the case moves toward trial.
Three men have already been charged
The investigation has already resulted in multiple charges.
Oliuwadamilola Ogunyankinnu, Alexis Bidace and Ernest Boateng have all been charged with murder in connection with Finbar’s death.
The three have also faced allegations of violent disorder.
They have denied the charges, and a trial is scheduled for next year.
But detectives clearly believe the investigation is not finished.
Because there is another name.
Another photograph.
Another man they want to find.
Jordan Asije is now the focus of the manhunt
Police have identified Jordan Asije, 22, as a wanted man in connection with the investigation.
Detectives have released his image and are asking the public to provide information that could lead to his arrest.
The reward?
Up to £20,000.
The figure underlines how seriously investigators are treating the search.
Detective Inspector Andy Griffin has also made a direct appeal to Asije to hand himself in.
Police have warned that anyone knowingly helping him evade arrest or harbouring him could themselves face investigation.
Police say the public should not approach him
There is another crucial warning.
Although police do not believe Asije poses a wider threat to the public, they have specifically urged people not to approach him.
Anyone who believes they know where he is should contact police instead.
That warning comes as detectives attempt to close what could be a critical gap in their reconstruction of the events surrounding Finbar’s death.
What happened in those final minutes?
That is now one of the central questions.
Investigators have been working to reconstruct the sequence of events surrounding the confrontation.
Who arrived first?
What triggered the violence?
Who was involved?
What happened immediately before Finbar was attacked?
And what happened in the moments afterward?
Those questions could become increasingly important as the prosecution case develops.
Police have already examined CCTV, spoken with witnesses and gathered forensic evidence.
There may be crucial footage
Because the attack happened in a busy public place, investigators believe there may be people who witnessed important moments.
Earlier in the investigation, police said they were aware of footage circulating on social media around the time of the incident and appealed for anyone with photographs or videos to come forward.
That could prove crucial.
A few seconds of footage might establish who was present.
A photograph might place a suspect at the scene.
A witness who initially thought they saw nothing important might remember one detail that changes the timeline.
That is why detectives continue to insist that even seemingly insignificant information could matter.
Finbar’s father is left with one unbearable memory
Behind the police operation and courtroom developments is a grieving father trying to make sense of an unimaginable loss.
Christopher Sullivan has spoken about his son as his only child.
Finbar had been pursuing filmmaking and had gone to Primrose Hill carrying the camera he had received for his birthday.
It was meant to be an ordinary creative outing.
A chance to experiment.
A chance to capture images.
A chance to continue building the future he had imagined.
Instead, his family is now left with the memory of a final journey that ended in tragedy.
A young filmmaker with a future ahead of him
Finbar’s family have emphasized his character and ambitions.
His mother, Leah Seresin, remembered him as kind, bright and fundamentally compassionate, describing his generation of young filmmakers as people who simply went out and made movies rather than waiting for permission.
That description makes the tragedy particularly painful.
Finbar was not simply a name in a police investigation.
He was a young man attempting to build something.
He had a camera in his hands.
He had a future ahead of him.
And he had gone to one of London’s most recognizable locations simply to create.
The case has already drawn enormous attention
The combination of the location, the daylight setting, the young victim and the apparent scale of the confrontation has made the case especially disturbing.
The incident allegedly unfolded at a time when Primrose Hill was busy with members of the public.
Court proceedings have heard that numerous passersby may have witnessed the violence, with some allegedly recording what happened on their phones.
That creates a disturbing possibility.
Somewhere among those recordings or memories could be evidence capable of answering questions that remain unresolved.
The £20,000 question
Now detectives are effectively putting a price on the information that could help bring the investigation closer to its next breakthrough.
£20,000.
That is the reward being offered for information leading to Asije’s arrest.
Police are making it clear that they want the public to help them locate him — but not to take matters into their own hands.
And that makes the release of his photograph a major moment in the investigation.
The face detectives want the public to recognize is now circulating widely.
The question is whether someone will recognize him.
Why is one suspect still being sought?
That is perhaps the question many people will be asking as the investigation moves forward.
Three men have already been charged with murder.
Another man has faced charges relating to an alleged attack on Finbar’s friend.
And yet detectives continue to seek Asije in connection with the wider investigation.
That means police believe there are still important questions to answer about the full sequence of events.
The eventual trial may provide further details.
But until then, the investigation remains active.
The heartbreaking camera detail changes how the story is remembered
Crime stories can quickly become dominated by suspects, charges and police operations.
But Finbar’s family has given the public another way to understand him.
Not through the violence that ended his life.
Through what he was doing before it.
He was making films.
He was learning.
He was carrying a new camera.
He was trying to capture something beautiful.
That camera was supposed to represent a birthday gift and a step toward his future.
Instead, it became part of the story of the last day he was alive.
Detectives are still searching for answers
The Metropolitan Police investigation is continuing.
Officers are examining evidence, pursuing witnesses and seeking information that could help establish precisely what happened on Primrose Hill.
The prosecution case against the men already charged will ultimately be tested in court.
And the allegations against anyone accused must be distinguished from proven facts.
But police are clearly determined to locate Asije.
Their £20,000 reward is an unmistakable signal that they believe information from the public could be vital.
The final question surrounding Finbar Sullivan
There is something devastating about the simplicity of Finbar’s final plan.
He went to Primrose Hill.
He brought his new camera.
He intended to film.
And he expected to go home.
Instead, his family is now waiting for answers while detectives search for another man they believe may be connected to his death.
The camera that was meant to capture the beginning of a young filmmaker’s future has become a haunting detail in the story of how that future was taken away.
Now the photograph of Jordan Asije is in the public domain.
The reward stands at £20,000.
And detectives are asking anyone who knows something to speak.
Because the question that remains is brutally simple:
Who else knows exactly what happened to Finbar Sullivan on that crowded London hillside — and will the person with the missing piece of the puzzle finally come forward?
