‘Go chase your dreams,’ it still says, at the top of Finbar Sullivan’s Instagram page.
The young film student, who had just turned 21, was doing exactly that on Tuesday when he picked up the new Sony camera he’d bought with his birthday money – broadcast quality, because he knew where his future lay – and headed out into the sunshine of London’s Primrose Hill, not far from from his home.
Finbar, the grandson of legendary cinematographer Michael Seresin, would have grown up knowing more than most about film.
His grandfather was behind the ‘look’ of some of Hollywood’s most iconic films, involved in hits such as Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
When friends asked Michael Seresin what he did exactly, he would tell them: ‘I tell stories with cameras, lenses, light.’
It was the most glorious afternoon in the capital, and Finbar would have known that as ‘magic hour’ – when the sun dips and casts a golden light – approached, he would get some spectacular images.
That the contents of that new camera are now likely to form part of the police investigation into Finbar’s murder is almost beyond comprehension.
He left his home in Maida Vale, north-west London at around 4.30pm, telling his father, artist and musician Chris Sullivan, himself a leading light in London’s artistic scene, that he would be home later to cook dinner.
He would have arrived at Primrose Hill, just a couple of miles from his home, some time around 5pm, having arranged to meet up with friends, including his best mate AJ, home from Nottingham University for the Easter break.
They were planning to do what young lads do on sunny afternoons in London – lounge about, play music (Finbar produced videos for up and coming rappers), chat.
But by 6.41pm, when the police were called after receiving reports of a fight at the summit of Primrose Hill where the views stretch out across the whole city, Finbar had been fatally stabbed.
He received multiple wounds, including a fatal injury to the leg, severing an artery. His friend AJ was also wounded, possibly (Finbar’s family believe) trying to protect Finbar. It was 6.45pm when AJ staggered into a nearby pub, seeking refuge.
There were frantic scenes as horrified bystanders – including a woman with a son the same age – tried to save Finbar’s life, to hold him and comfort him.
Paramedics attempted CPR for 20 minutes but by the time his distraught father, alerted by friends, arrived, Finbar was gone, pronounced dead at the scene.
Within minutes footage of the fracas was circulating on social media.
It appears to show Finbar pulling up his trousers and stumbling away, having been stabbed. He is holding a bag.
AJ is seen punching a man holding a knife, who then backs away, as Finbar stumbles down the hill. A bloodstain is clearly visible on AJ’s back.
Shocking scenes. How can this happen in a corner of London that used to be regarded as one of its safest?
Finbar’s heartbroken father has spoken to the Daily Mail of the family’s utter devastation and bewilderment.
Chris and Finbar’s mother Leah Seresin – who is also a film-maker, like her father – are divorced, but Finbar was an adored only child.
The Daily Mail has spent this week talking to his friends, and a picture has emerged of a gentle and creative soul.
‘Beautiful, lovely, outgoing,’ said his father. ‘Just a little groovy 21-year-old who loved movies and making films. He didn’t drink, he didn’t smoke, he didn’t go out.’
Gang involvement? Categorically not, insisted Chris.
In fact, ‘when he got a scooter and would ride to school it would take him ages because he would avoid all the areas where there were gangs.’
Was Finbar involved in the fight that broke out or, as his family insist, indiscriminately attacked?
The police investigation will examine that, but initial reports certainly suggest events unfolded with shocking speed.
We can reveal that Finbar was actually on the phone to one of his friends as the violence erupted.
Fellow film student Raphael Bishop-Sauve was shaking as he told us he had rung his friend at 6.39pm – just two minutes before police received the emergency call.
Raphael, who works as an actor, had previously made arrangements to meet Finbar – who he knew from London Screen Academy, the film school they both attended – later that evening in Soho, having been unable to link up with him at Primrose Hill because he was working.
‘He was meant to come down to Soho with me to do some writing. We were close. We were trying to work with each other and help each other out. I’m an actor and he’s a videographer so we wanted to get work done.’
They had first discussed their plans at 4pm that day, before Finbar had left home. ‘We wanted to sit down in the pub and write some ideas down. Every time we would meet, it was always the same energy and positivity.
‘He’d said, ‘Come down, come down’ [to Primrose Hill] but I couldn’t because I was at work. He called me later on, but I missed his call. I saw he had rung and I asked if I could take a smoke break to call him back.’
The two-minute call the pair shared when Raphael rang Finbar back was the last time they would ever speak.
‘I said, ‘I’m finished at 7pm so come through ASAP’. He was like ‘Yeah, I’m with some of my other friends and we are just chilling. They will come through too’. He said they were gonna come down on a Lime bike.
‘But as soon as he said that the phone went silent. And then I could hear screaming, grunting and heavy breathing.
‘I was super scared, so I said, ‘Fin, call me back as soon as you can’. And I hung up.’
He explains that he had no idea what was going on, but it was clear it was deeply serious.
‘I’m a super anxious person and I didn’t want him to have me on the phone while he was trying to get away from a situation. I said to him, “Call me back when you can”
‘I tried to call him afterwards and left a message. Later, when I checked the time of the call, it was the same time that the news said a paramedic was called.’
Raphael also knows AJ. ‘He had been to school with Fin. He’s a lovely soul as well, a really lovely guy. I’m very worried about him.’
It is believed AJ, who is studying economics at Nottingham, was taken to hospital. His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.
‘God knows why they were attacked,’ added Raphael. ‘I wish I knew why. They were just having a day up on the hill. If I hadn’t been to work and I went there, I could have been in a similar situation.’
He still seemed in shock. ‘He was an angelic soul,’ he said of Finbar. ‘He had a pure heart. He made you feel super welcome, whether you know him or not.’
He was an ambitious young man, too. ‘He had a whole website for his videography,’ Raphael explained. ‘He did so much stuff. He was making things work for him. It’s a terrible thing to happen for somebody who was working hard and staying in his own lane.’
Our reporters spoke to a group of Finbar’s friends from Maida Vale, who met this week to pay their respects and to comfort each other.
There were poignant scenes as they played his favourite reggae music. Although he was making a career in the rap world (where he went under the name of Sully), reggae was his first love.
Sam Smedley, 21, an electrician, said Fin was kind, respected for being a problem solver, and popular with his peers.
‘Fin was that kind of guy that if somebody was to have a problem with him, then there wouldn’t be a problem. He hasn’t got bad blood. He is quick to resolve something. He was a happy kind of guy, you know.’
On Wednesday, a reeling Chris Sullivan, 65, paid an emotional tribute to his only child, telling us he was a talented young man with a bright future ahead.
Mr Sullivan had dashed in an Uber to the scene as soon as he was called, but was not allowed through police lines.
‘He is my only son. I had him when I was 45,’ he told us.
‘He can never be replaced. This is the worst tragedy I could ever imagine. I’m so broken-hearted I can’t believe it.’
In another interview with The Times, he said: ‘I called my son Finbar because I knew he was going to become famous and wanted him to have a name that everyone would know.
‘I never thought it would be on the front pages because of his own murder. This is Hell. Finbar was very, very handsome. Everyone around here knew and loved him. He was like an angel.’
Mr Sullivan had been involved in London’s music scene in the 80s, a founder of the band Blue Rondo a la Turk and the famous Wag Club in Soho.
More recently, he has focused on art. Poignantly, one of his most treasured portraits is of his son.
It’s already clear that the young man’s legacy will be preserved by his father. ‘All I know now is that I am going to dedicate the rest of my life to Finbar’s name,’ he said.
‘I want something good to come out of this awful thing that has happened. Everybody loved Finbar. We looked after each other. He had so much to live for.’
Finbar’s death has sent shock waves around Primrose Hill, situated in one of London’s wealthiest areas. Local residents include Alan Bennett, Daniel Craig and Jude Law.
But while it has a traditionally ‘safe’ image, the Hill has seen increasing violence.
On New Year’s Eve in 2023, Harry Pitman, 16, was stabbed to death.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is MP for the area, called for permanent gates to be installed around the perimeter of the hill as long ago as 2021 because of increased reports of fights, noise and disturbance.
Gates are now in place but they close only between 10pm and 6am on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays during the summer months.
It’s poignant that police have now appealed for some of the young people who were on the hill on Tuesday to come forward.
In particular, they want to trace anyone who caught on their own cameras the events that led to Finbar’s death.
Footage from the fight was indeed shared on social media, and police believe there could be more stills or video evidence that could help to catch Finbar’s killer, who remains at large.
This was absolutely not the ending that this young storyteller expected or deserved when he went out with his new camera.
And what a tragedy that this is the story he’ll be remembered for.
