A man who collapsed during breakfast service at Lauderdale House in Highgate on Friday is said to have been the victim of a malicious poisoning, reports indicate the man is severely ill or already dead.

The Highgate Echo can now confirm that the kipper breakfast he ate was not ordered by him, but rather one of the two men he dined with. John Redding, the chef that morning at Lauderdale House spoke to the Echo: “I’ve never seen anything like it. It was strange enough being given food to prepare,” Mr Redding said, “he just told me the gentleman was very particular, I didn’t ask questions, they looked rough, y’know, Eastern European.”

Fellow diners confirmed that three men entered the popular arts venue together. However, after a heated exchange, two of the men left. Only minutes later the man had collapsed.”What’s really strange is that the police never showed up. We saw some official-looking men arrive 15 minutes later and take the poor man away…we assumed they were police, plain clothes like.” Jenny Campbell told The Highgate Echo. “The next day, similar looking men came and asked me and my friend all kinds of questions, about what we saw and where we’ve lived over our lives, totally weird. That’s when we realised, these aren’t the police.”

Eyewitnesses said they saw two black cars leave with the man and head towards Highgate West Hill.