�The family of a young father from Harold Hill are appealing for help from the community to pay for his funeral.

The body of Luke Harwood, 18, was found in Woodford Green on May 28. He had suffered severe head injuries.

Five people have been charged with his murder and will appear at the Old Bailey in September.

One of his brothers spoke to the Recorder this week as he organised fundraising events for the funeral.

Scott Harwood, 26, said: “It was such a shock. It still is, everyone’s feeling like that. My mum doesn’t have any money and she has kids, and obviously you don’t plan to bury your 18-year-old brother or son.”

He said he came up with the fundraising idea.

“I heard about Luke’s death on the second day of my holiday, while I was in Cyprus with my girlfriend and my kid.

“I started crying and my boy, who’s six, asked me what was wrong, but I couldn’t tell him.

“Later he somehow heard me talking about it, and now whenever he hears the name Luke Harwood he starts crying.

“You see things like it in the paper, but you don’t ever think something like it would happen to someone close to you.

“While I was away, I thought that we just needed to do something.”

Scott said that the family want to give Luke – whose body hasn’t yet been released by the police – a big send- off.

“We want white horses, a white carriage, a white coffin, three cars and we want to release two doves.

“We’re hoping to raise about �3,500 towards that.”

One event, for family and close friends, has already been held, but Scott hopes that the next fundraiser will be bigger.

It will be held at the Saxon King pub, Petersfield Avenue, Harold Hill on July 14, from noon.

The fun day will feature entertainment including a band, barbecue, tug of war, and penalty shootouts.

He added: “Hopefully everyone can help and get involved, that’s the plan.

“There’s more than 300 people on the Facebook tribute page – if they all came, that would be great.”