London’s shame as teen murder total hits 30 in one year
LONDON’S teenage murder toll hit a record high of 30 in a single year as a night of bloodshed saw two schoolboys stabbed.
Musician Zaian Aimable-Lina, 15, was killed in south London at about 7pm on Thursday. Minutes later a 16year-old was fatally wounded in Boris Johnson’s Uxbridge constituency.
The horrifying death toll will heap further pressure on Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick and London mayor Sadiq Khan, who yesterday insisted knife crime in the capital had decreased under his watch.
Knife crime has dropped since 2019 but the teenage murder rate is at its highest in London since the Second World War. The previous high of 29 was in 2008.
Campaigners last night slammed politicians and police chiefs for allegedly
‘How many more lives must be lost?’
allowing teenage murders to slip down the agenda during the pandemic.
Police were called to Ashburton Park in Croydon, south London, at 7pm where Zaian had been fatally stabbed.
The teenager, a talented pianist who attended St Joseph’s College, was described as bright and respectful with a strong family unit around him.
He was understood to have been with friends at the time he was killed, and neighbours described seeing them frantically seeking help as he lay dying.
A local woman said she saw a white Mercedes circling the area and added: ‘My gut feeling is it was a big gang member that wanted to make sure this kid was dead.’ Another neighbour said: ‘The police came but he must have been too hurt to save.’
A woman, thought to be his mother, was seen collapsed on her knees and sobbing.
A 15-year-old boy was in custody last night after being arrested on suspicion of murder.
Little more than half an hour later, a 16-year-old boy was fatally stabbed in Uxbridge, north-west London, at the Philpots Farm Open Space.
Paramedics fought to keep him alive for almost an hour before he was pronounced dead at the scene at 8.25pm.
Campaigners warned that violence in the capital was likely to get worse in 2022. Jen Lock, of Lives Instead Of Knives, said: ‘The pandemic has meant the focus has been on Covid rather than issues like this – it has dropped down the agenda for the media, politicians and even the police. How many more lives need to be lost?’
Patrick Green, of campaign group the Ben Kinsella Trust, said: ‘Knife crime is accepted by this generation as part-andparcel of growing up and that’s completely unacceptable.’
A total of 132 teenagers have been murdered in London since Mr Khan became mayor in May 2016. Two days ago he unveiled a £39million package for the London Crime Prevention Fund. He previously set up the £62million Violence Reduction Unit. Last night he said he was ‘devastated’ by the latest deaths.
But he added: ‘Since before the pandemic, the level of knife crime and youth violence in London has been decreasing.
‘Sadly, this hasn’t yet translated to fewer teenage homicides. I refuse to accept the loss of young lives is inevitable.’
Met commander Alex Murray said the force takes 400 knives a month off the streets.