Two London murders within just 36 minutes
A MOTHER was stabbed to death at her £1million home in a night that saw two fatal attacks in London within 36 minutes.
Samantha Clarke, 38, was killed in Brixton days after celebrating her son Joshua’s 14th birthday.
The hotel assistant general manager, who worked at a former coaching inn in Henley, had been spending time off with her family when she was attacked at 6.30pm on Sunday. Yesterday her husband Paul said: ‘She was a loving mum. Everything she did was for her son.
‘She just wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.’
Last night police were quizzing a 24-year- old man, named locally as Jordan Clarke, who is thought to be Mrs Clarke’s nephew.
The suspect was led away in handcuffs on suspicion of murder at the three-storey Victorian property owned by Mr Clarke and his twin brother Michael.
Neighbours told of their shock yesterday. One said: ‘They are a lovely family who have lived here for a long time. We’ve no idea what happened. We’re in absolute shock.’
The London murder, which is the 59th so far this year, happened on a night of violence with three stabbings in the capital. Just 36 minutes earlier, a young father was killed less than ten miles away. Raul Nicolaie was attacked in a flat in Colindale, north London.
The 26-year- old Romanian decorator died in hospital. A 34-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of murder.
The victim’s mother, Eva Chiriac, was visiting relatives in Romania when she was informed of the attack.
She told the London Evening Standard that her son had become a father four months ago. ‘Raul was so excited to have a son and wanted the best for his new baby,’ she said. Later on the same evening an 18-year-old man was seriously injured in a knife attack near Alexandra Palace shortly after 9.20pm.
The surge in stabbings comes as police are battling a knife crime epidemic, with murder levels for February and March exceeding the number of killings on the streets of New York.