Four people have been killed in a spate of unrelated stabbings across London on New Year’s Eve amid calls to crack down on knife crime.
Police are appealing for information after a 17-year-old boy, an 18-year-old man and two others aged 20 died within hours as millions celebrated the start of 2018.
Investigators called the murders “heartbreaking” while vowing to crack down on rising violence in the capital.
The first victim, an 18-year-old man, was stabbed in Larmans Road, Enfield, at around 11.30am and died later in hospital.
Shortly after 7.30pm, a 20-year-old man was attacked in Memorial Avenue, near West Ham Tube station in east London.
Police arrived to find the victim suffering from several stab injuries and paramedics could not resuscitate him, pronouncing him dead at the scene.
Detective Chief Inspector Will Reynolds appealed for members of a group he was with at the time of the stabbing to come forward, adding: “This attack has robbed a young man of his future and robbed a family of their loved one...I know that there were people in the area who witnessed the incident.”
Three hours later, a 17-year-old boy was fatally stabbed near Tulse Hill railway station in south London, dying on the pavement from a single wound.