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A family friend comforts Becky Holmes

Family and friends paid tribute to a doorman killed outside an Oxford pub - by winning the local darts league.

Stephen Pinker, 43, died after he was slashed across the neck outside the Corner House, in Hollow Way, Cowley, on Tuesday.

On Thursday evening, Mr Pinker's fiancée Rebecca Holmes took his place to throw the first dart in the final match of the West Oxon Darts League season at the Strickland Arms, in Ducklington, near Witney.

Father-of-two Mr Pinker, of Burford Road, Witney, was the pub's darts champion and was due to play in the match.

Instead, Miss Holmes wore her fiancé's personalised darts shirt, emblazoned with his nickname Tambourine Man and Strickland's Number 1 on the back, as she joined the pub's team.

The team won the two legs they needed against the Plough Inn, from Alvescot, to take the league title.

Surrounded by Mr Pinker's friends, work colleagues mates and fellow pub regulars, Miss Holmes also described his last words before he died.

She said: "He died in my arms. I knew he was going when he said 'I love you' as he was gasping for breath. I told him that I loved him - it all happened so quickly."

Stephen Pinker

Mr Pinker worked as a doorman at pubs and clubs in Witney and Oxford and ran a property maintenance firm with his partner.

Numerous friends and fellow doormen and security staff from Witney turned up for the darts match.

Friends also presented Miss Holmes with a model of a van used in the A-Team TV series. Mr Pinker had kitted his work van out in the style of the 1980s television show.

Kevin Bunyan, of KHM Services and Mr Pinker's boss, said: "The phone hasn't stopped ringing at work with clients saying how much they will miss Steve.

"Steve was a great friend and we had a great time working together. I knew I could trust Steve. He was an ordinary bloke, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

7:37pm Friday 28th March 2008

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