POLICE say three people have been arrested in connection with the death of a Sikh father who was knifed in a snowy East London street after trying to stop two youths who mugged a woman and ran off with her handbag.

Sukhwinder Singh, 31, who had been working in Britain to support his wife and son in India, chased the youths after they attacked the Asian woman on Friday night, punching her in the face to make her release her bag. She had just alighted from a train at Barking railway station.

When he caught up with one of the men, he was stabbed in the chest. He was found slumped in the street by a passer-by and later died in the Royal London hospital.

Police said he had lost his life bravely and he was described by his cousin Harwinder Singh, 27, with whom he shared a house, as the “most selfless person” he had ever met. The dead man had lived in Britain for ten years and worked as a builder, according to his cousin.

Harwinder Singh heard about the stabbing when a friend phoned and he drove to the scene, two minutes away, where he found his cousin dying. “Police tried to save him but he had been stabbed in the heart,” he said.

He said he was not surprised by his cousin’s bravery.

Nirmal Singh Gill, a Barking and Dagenham councillor, knew Sukhwinder Singh and said he was a sober, clean-living young man who attended gurdwara every evening.  “He would help anybody so it doesn’t surprise me that he was trying to help a lady.”

Det Insp John Sandlin said Mr Singh had acted bravely. He said: “This is a tragic death of a man who was killed for attempting to stop others committing crime and our thoughts are with Sukhwinder’s family.”

He said the mugging victim’s brown leather shoulder bag, which originated from India, might have been abandoned and should someone find it they should contact the police because it might offer significant clues.

Sukhwinder Singh came to Britain from the Punjab to provide for his wife and his son, now aged ten. They live with his parents in a small Punjabi farming community and he sent them money every month and was the main earner for the family, said Harwinder.

Police launched a search for two black men in their 20s or 30s, between 5ft 7ins and 6ft tall, and also appealed for witnesses to the theft and the stabbing.