Four die in separate city knife attacks
FOUR people have been killed in a spate of unrelated stabbings across the capital at the start of the New Year.
Scotland Yard has launched four separate murder investigations.
The incidents involved a 17-year-old, 18-year-old and a 20-year-old on New Year’s Eve.
The fourth victim, aged 20, was attacked in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Another man in his 20s is in hospital in a critical condition after the same incident.
Detectives described the murders as “heartbreaking”.
They vowed to crack down on the rise in knife crime and other violence in London.
The New Year’s Eve murders took the number of people stabbed to death in London in 2017 to 80.
The first victim, aged 18, was stabbed in Enfield, north-east London, at about 11.30am and died later in hospital.
Shortly after 7.30pm, a 20-year-old man was stabbed to death in West Ham, east London.
Three hours later, a 17-yearold youth was fatally stabbed in Tulse Hill, south London, after a row on a bus.
Then in the early hours of the New Year, at around 2.30am, a 20-year-old man died of knife injuries at Old Street near the boundary with the City of London.
Another man in his 20s was stabbed in the same incident and remains in a critical condition in hospital.
Met Commander Neil Jerome said: “It is heart-breaking that, at a time when so many of us are contemplating what lies ahead in 2018, four families are dealing with the grief of losing a loved one to senseless violence and the callous use lethal weapons.
“I can assure Londoners, and the families and friends of the four males killed and the fifth who remains in hospital, that detectives will work tirelessly to bring to justice those responsible for such despicable acts.
“I would urge anyone with information about these attacks to urgently pass that information to police or Crimestoppers.
“If you’ve hesitated to do so before, then these four tragic deaths at the start of a new year may persuade you to act now to make London safer for your family and friends in 2018.” of knives as