A worker in a newsagents near the flat where he was living said he would come in to the shop to top up his phone or energy key, but would not make conversation.

“He was so quiet, he didn’t say anything, just came to top up and left,” the member of shop staff said.

Ms Nessa taught a year one class at Rushey Green Primary School in Catford, south-east London.

On Friday, hundreds of people – including her sister – gathered for a candlelit vigil organised in Pegler Square, Kidbrooke, in her memory.

Jebina Yasmin Islam, Ms Nessa’s sister, broke down as she addressed crowds.

She said: “Words cannot describe how we are feeling, this feels like we are stuck in a bad dream and can’t get out of it – our world is shattered, we are simply lost for words.

“No family should go through what we are going through.”