Teachers, friends and family remember Jodie Chesney with 'purple Friday'

A sea of purple covered the grounds of Havering Sixth Form College where pupils, teachers and friends gathered to pay tribute to Jodie Chesney who was stabbed to death in London a week ago.

Donning purple, the teenager's favourite colour, college principle Paul Wakeling recalled the "wonderful" and "caring" student Jodie was.

He said: "We all had banter with Jodie about her different hair colours and that made her laugh.

"Jodie would talk to her teachers, who she had great relationships with, about her lovely family, and that's because she loved the college.

"She loved her courses, enjoyed her study, her teachers but most importantly her friends and unicorns and dogs and obviously all things purple."

Jodie, 17, was in a park in Harold Hill, east London, when she was approached by two males and knifed from behind in a seemingly motiveless attack on March 1.

She had been socialising with friends at the time.

A second person has been arrested over her murder.

Scotland Yard said a male suspect, whose age cannot be stated, was in custody after being arrested on suspicion of murder in London on Friday morning.

In an "outcry" of support for the 17-year-old's family, purple ribbons were handed out at Jodie's former secondary school on Friday morning.

Community members also gathered in Barking Town Hall square for minute's silence.

Stood among them was Jodie's sister Lucy who marked the moment wearing a small purple ribbon.

Darren Rodwell, a local council leader, described Jodie's death as having had a "massive impact" on the local community.

He said: "The outcry of support for the family has been phenomenal.

"If you go around the borough today, you'll see purple everywhere."

In an emotional interview on Thursday, Jodie's father, Peter Chesney, said of his daughter's attackers: "You'll never know the pain you've caused and the beauty you've taken away.

"They've destroyed something beautiful here...It's just a disgrace."

Her death has sparked calls for "harsh” sentences for criminals caught carrying knives as the country’s stabbings death toll continues to rise.