Teen knifed to death yards from Prince George school
Distraught mother ‘ran screaming to the scene’
A Teenager has been stabbed to death in a fight just 500 yards from Prince George’s school.
Lejean richards, 19, was repeatedly knifed in a car park close to his home in Battersea, south London.
The stabbing on Tuesday evening was just a few minutes away from the £ 17,000- a- year Thomas’s school attended by five-year-old George, the third in line to the throne. it is believed he will be joined there by his threeyearold sister charlotte in september. Last year there were two stabbings in the area, one of which was fatal.
Witnesses to the 8pm attack said mr richards mother, Lavern Joseph, ran ‘screaming’ from her flat in the surrey Lane estate when she found out what had happened.
The 19-year-old is the ninth person to be murdered in London so far this year, and the third teen- ager. Two men, aged 19 and 27, were arrested on suspicion of mr richards’ murder after turning up at a hospital needing treatment for knife wounds, but police believe up to six people may have been involved in the fight. Last night a third man, aged 20, was also charged with murder.
One witness near the scene at the time mr richards was attacked said he heard screaming and a ‘big group of youths’, while another said they saw paramedics ‘pumping on his chest’ and ‘performing open-heart surgery’ on the teenager as he lay on the ground.
mr richards was pronounced dead at the scene.
a friend told the London evening standard that mr richards, a pizza delivery driver who supported his mother and 14-year-old sister, had spent time in prison but had since made plans to go to college.
yesterday his mother paid tribute to her ‘lovely son’. she said: ‘Lejean was a loving son and brother, a young man determined to turn his life around. He will be sorely grieved by his family and friends and all who knew him.’
His stepfather was among family and friends who congregated at a police cordon at the site of the stabbing yesterday. The man, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘Lejean was working but wanted to go to college. i was speaking to him about it just a week ago.’
Wendy sgamma, who moved to the area from her native south africa four years ago, said: ‘The royal Family chose this area because it was safe. it is just unbelievable something like this would happen here.’
The attacks are the latest in London’s wave of violent crime, which saw 134 people murdered last year. London mayor sadiq Khan wrote on social media: ‘Heartbreaking to hear of the death of a young man in Battersea. my thoughts are with his family and friends.’
Local pastor Jason roach, of The Bridge community church, said: ‘On the estate all the young people know all the others. He was an integral part of the community. He was larger than life. He certainly liked to have a laugh.’
Police are appealing for informaager. tion and witnesses to the fight to come forward, including anyone with dashcam footage who was driving in the area at the time.
Detective chief inspector mick norman, who is leading the investigation, said: ‘at this early stage we are keeping an open mind about the motive of the attack.
‘The stabbing took place close to a bus stop, and it is believed the victim was attacked during an altercation involving a group of up to six people.’
WILD WEST BRITAIN