Stabbing victim is cousin of TV weatherman who spoke out on knife crime
eleVen days after speaking out against the knife crime epidemic, a TV weatherman is in mourning after his cousin was knifed to death.
Alex Beresford, 38, confirmed that nathaniel Armstrong, 29, has become the 18th person stabbed to death in london this year.
In a statement, he said the engineering graduate was ‘one more example of a needless life lost to knife crime’.
Mr Beresford interrupted a debate on knife crime during ITV’s Good Morning Britain less than a fortnight ago. having grown up in a tough area himself, he warned prison was no longer a deterrent and called for a different approach to save innocent lives.
now he is coming to terms with the death of his cousin who was murdered on the same street in Fulham where Crimewatch host Jill dando was shot two decades ago.
nicknamed ‘BFG’ due to his 6ft 7in frame, Mr Armstrong appears to have been involved in a confrontation with two men early on saturday 100 yards from his house. CCTV footage seems to show three men arguing on the leafy road before going
‘Same street as Jill Dando’
into an alley, with two men then reappearing.
A third man is then seen stumbling into the street before collapsing. Police were called at 12.30am after passers-by found him in a pool of blood but he died at the scene minutes later.
The victim’s father has offered a reward of £20,000 to bring the killer to justice.
Tributes have poured in for the southampton University graduate, who was a keen basketball player.
his former flatmate, George, 30, said: ‘he was super friendly, a BFG. he looked super scary but it would shock you how friendly he was. he was very well liked.’
Another friend said: ‘he was a good guy, he was a big man, 29, you don’t do silly things like this, knife crimes.’
In a statement, Mr Beresford said: ‘I’m deeply saddened to confirm my cousin nathaniel lost his life. We were all so shocked to receive this news yesterday and our thoughts are with his mum, his brother and sisters.
‘nathaniel was a bright young man with his whole life ahead of him and this tragedy is yet one more example of a needless life lost to knife crime.’
It rose by 12 per cent last year when nearly 40,000 knife crime incidents were reported.
last week, Chancellor Philip hammond announced an extra £100million to help police tackle the epidemic.