London knife crime victim is cousin of TV weatherman

A TELEVISION weather presenter who spoke out about knife crime has been left “shocked” by the death of his cousin, who was stabbed on the same street where Jill Dando was murdered.

Alex Beresford, who appears on ITV’S Good Morning Britain, confirmed that his 29-year-old cousin, Nathaniel Armstrong, had been killed in Fulham, west London, on Saturday.

“I’m deeply saddened to confirm my cousin Nathaniel lost his life on Friday night,” Mr Beresford said. “We were all so shocked to receive this news and our thoughts right now 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.”

The death came just 11 days after Mr Beresford, who had grown up in communities afflicted by knife crime, interrupted a discussion on Good Morning Britain when he told John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, that prison was “not a deterrent” to attackers.

“Some of these boys, they don’t fear prison. If you don’t change the environment it won’t change anything and that’s the key thing,” he said. “This has been happening for years.”

Armstrong, who studied engineering at the University of Southampton, became the 27th person in the capital to be killed with a knife this year. He died in Gowan Avenue, near the junction of Munster Road, the same avenue where BBC presenter Jill Dando was shot dead in April 1999.

Det Chief Insp Glen Lloyd said: “My team is keen to trace a light-skinned black male, 6ft tall, who was seen near the scene at the time of the incident.”