Six stabbings in six blood-soaked hours in London

SIX people were stabbed in less than six hours in a day of violence in London.

Four of those injured in the attacks on Tuesday were teenagers. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick admitted that knife crime is at the worst level she has seen in her 35-year career.

In a further outbreak of violence in the capital, a teenager was shot dead on a council estate yesterday.

The first knife attack took place at about 3.30pm when an 18-year-old was repeatedly stabbed in a ‘targeted attack’ in front of pupils returning home from school.

Witnesses described how the victim was chased down by a speeding black car, before it crashed and two men got out armed with ‘fearsome’ blades. Knifed in the side, the teen collapsed in the street in Kidbrooke, South-East London, and is now in a stable condition in hospital.

A witness said: ‘He was totally covered in blood. It must have been a planned attack because the people in the cars were travelling as if they knew exactly who they were after.’

Less than an hour later, a 26-yearold man was found stabbed in a park in Hounslow, West London, and rushed to hospital. A second man, 20, was found with a knife wound a short walk from the park minutes later. Police are investigating to see if the two attacks are linked. A man has been arrested.

The violence continued in Tottenham, North London when at 6.05pm a 17-year-old was slashed across the face yards from a police station after a row between two gangs. Blood splatters could be seen on the pavement. Less than an hour later a 19-year-old was stabbed on a street in Barking, East London, after being attacked by a gang.

The last stabbing came at 9pm in Tooting, South London, when an 18-year-old was knifed on the busy high street. None of the injuries sustained in the spate of stabbings are thought to be life-threatening.

Miss Dick blamed drugs for rocketing knife violence. She told MPs on the Commons home affairs select committee: ‘I’d have to say that the last couple of years undoubtedly have been the highest and most worrying levels I think in my service.’

The shooting victim, described as being in his late teens, was found at around 4.10pm in West Norwood and died at the scene. Two men have been arrested on suspicion of murder. The victim was the 30th person to be killed in the capital this year.