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06th Nov 2018

Bloody knife discovered in bush close to where fifth London murder victim in a week found dead

James Dawson

A 16-year-old was found stabbed to death in south London on Monday night

A bloody knife has been discovered in bushes close to where a 16-year-old became the fifth suspected London stabbing victim killed in the space of a week.

Emergency services were called to Tulse Hill, south London at 11.53pm on Monday night to reports of gunfire, where they found a 16-year-old boy unconscious in the street.

Despite paramedics attempts to save the teenager, he was pronounced dead at the scene with suspected stab wounds. His next of kin have been informed.

On Tuesday morning, an image posted to social media showed a knife hidden in a bush close to the scene of the crime. It has since been reported to the police.

LBC’s Matthew Thompson, who made the discovery, said the blade was “five or six-inches” in size and appeared to have “something red on it which looks like blood”.

Matthew told LBC radio: “I was speaking to some witnesses to try to get a picture of what happened. I spoke to a cleaner in the street who said he noticed something in one of the bushes.

“He led me over and in fact, it looks like a kitchen knife.

“We have informed police and the video above shows police investigating now. It is just outside of the police cordon.”

Since Wednesday last week, five men have been stabbed to death on the streets of London – the youngest of them was just 15 years old.

Malcolm Mide-Madariola, 17, was fatally stabbed on Friday outside Clapham South underground station. He became the 21st teenager murdered in London this year after 15-year-old Jay Hughes was stabbed to the heart in Bellingham on Thursday.

The violence continued over the weekend. On Sunday, a 22-year-old man was stabbed to death in Anerley. Two men, aged 19 and 21, have been arrested and enquiries are ongoing. The day before Rocky Djelal, 38, was stabbed to death at Southwark Park.

Speaking on the Today show on Monday,  London Mayor Sadiq Khan that London’s knife crime could take “up to 10 years” to tackle.

“It’ll take some time,” Khan said. “The reason I know it’ll take some time is because of the lessons we’ve learned from places like Glasgow in Scotland, where it took them some time to turn this thing around.

“According to Glasgow – and we’ve got the violence reduction unit in Glasgow helping us – to really make significant progress can take up to 10 years, and a generation.”

There have now been 117 killings in the capital in 2018.

Any witnesses or anyone with information should contact police on 101 quoting CAD 8349/05 Nov. To remain anonymous please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Featured image credit: Matthew Thompson / LBC