Man stabbed to death amid wave of London violence

Murder detectives are probing the death of a man in east London amid a rash of stabbings in the capital.

The victim, believed to have been in his 20s, was stabbed near Ilford Station on Tuesday night and died at the scene.

The man is thought to have been the fifth person to be stabbed in London on Tuesday – and the fourth in less than eight hours.

There have now been 17 homicides in London so far this year, six of which happened in nine days.

The Metropolitan Police said it was called to reports of a stabbing at Cranbrook Road in Ilford, east London, at 8.48pm.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene about half an hour later.

Zamirullah Stanikzai, 21, who works in a phone shop close to where the attack took place, said he saw two men brandishing knives.

“I saw people running up and down the station when I went out,” he said.

Ilford South MP Mike Gapes tweeted that he was “shocked and saddened” by the killing.

The Met said a murder probe had been opened, while no arrests had yet been made.

Tuesday in the capital got off to a bloody start when a 25-year-old man was left critically injured in a stabbing in Enfield, north London.

Police were called to Green Street at 12.40am and the man was taken to hospital for treatment, while three men – aged 24, 26 and 27 – were arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder.

Officers responded to another incident in Enfield on Tuesday afternoon where a man in his 30s was stabbed in the thigh following an “altercation” on Parsonage Road at around 1.50pm.

The man was later discharged from hospital, while a man arrested at the scene on suspicion of grievous bodily harm was taken into custody.

A few hours later a male, reported to be a teenager, was stabbed at South Ruislip Underground in west London.

British Transport Police said it was called to reports of a disturbance at the station shortly before 4.30pm.

The victim was taken to hospital for treatment for a stab wound to his abdomen, which was not thought to be life threatening.

Around two hours later police were called to a stabbing in Victoria Road in Romford, east London.

An 18-year-old man was taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

The fatal stabbing later on Tuesday night was the fifth homicide in London in nine days.

On February 18 Bright Akinleye, 22, died in the lobby of a luxury hotel in Euston Street in Camden, central London, after being stabbed outside.

Glendon Spence, 23, died after being stabbed at a youth club in Brixton, south London, on February 21.

The following day a 19-year-old man was stabbed to death in Wood Green, north London, while on February 25 a man was fatally stabbed in a fight in Tower Hamlets, east London.