Barnet stabbing sees London suffer fifth killing in six days

A father of two young children was stabbed to death during a suspected gang fight on a residential London street, bringing the number of violent deaths in the capital to five in less than a week.

The man, in his 30s, died when two groups of men confronted each other in east Barnet armed with knives, chains and broom handles in what witnesses described as a "full on" battle.

As paramedics fought in vain to save his life a woman was seen racing to the scene screaming: “It’s my son, it’s my son.”

The murder comes at a time when the Metropolitan Police, and the capital’s Mayor Sadiq Khan, are already under increasing pressure to contain the spike in violence on London’s streets.

Scotland Yard said it had stepped up activity by its Violent Crime Taskforce by increasing patrols and searches in a number of known hotspots.

Khan said: "I am deeply saddened by the fatal stabbing in Barnet last night. This horrific violence has absolutely no place on London’s streets. The City Hall-funded Violent Crime Taskforce is out in communities catching offenders and removing weapons, and our Violence Reduction Unit is tackling the root causes of crime."

In the latest incident, which broke out in the tree-lined avenue just before 11pm on Tuesday night, two other men needed hospital treatment after suffering stab wounds.

One neighbour, who ran outside with bandages to treat the injured, said: "There were three of them on the floor and blood everywhere. One had a hole in his arm like a dog had ripped it.

"There was a knife sheath on the ground and a chain nearby. It was a full-on battle.

"The ones who attacked them came around the back of the victim’s house, they must have known him. They chase them onto the street. There was blood even on the cars. It was brutal."

A mother of two, told The London Evening Standard: "Later a woman arrived and was shouting ‘It’s my son, it’s my son’. She was standing over a man who had been stabbed as paramedics worked on him.

"She was in distress. It was horrific to hear the screams of a mum watching her child die."

She added: "It’s not what you expect in Barnet. It’s a family area we are all very upset by this. We have kids, it seems nowhere is safe."

Another witness described seeing two men vaulting garden fences while a police helicopter hovered above.

The witness said: "There were two jumping over garden fences they looked petrified. The police helicopter was overhead, they looked hunted and scared. They were looking this way and that.

"It was like something out of a film. There is a warren of alleys around the back of the houses where the stabbing took place."

Police searched nearby gardens where it is believed those involved in the stabbing had briefly sought refuge.

London’s latest murder spree began on Friday and continued with 55 hours of mayhem that saw four murders in four days and at least seven other stabbings and shootings.

The killing comes after a Lithuanian national, Giedrius Juskauskas, 42, was stabbed to death in Whalebone Lane, Stratford, in the early hours of Monday.

That followed three suspected murders in the space of 24 hours, including the deaths of two teenagers who were attacked on Friday.

Cheyon Evans, 18, a painting and decorating student at Lambeth College, was found stabbed on Deeside Road in Wandsworth, south-west London, at 4.42pm on Friday, and died at the scene.

Just 20 minutes later Eniola Aluko, 19, from Thamesmead, south-east London, was shot dead in Hartville Road, Plumstead.

At 2pm the following day, Gleb Stanislavovitch Zhebrovsky, 34, the boss of a building firm, was fatally knifed in a field next to a nursery and a mosque in Albion Street, Poplar.

As well as the violent deaths, another victim, 45, was left in a critical condition when he was stabbed in Enfield at about 3.30pm on Saturday.

A 17-year-old boy was also left fighting for his life after he was shot on the Tulse Hill Estate, south west London, at around 9.40pm on Sunday.

Another man, aged 28, was shot shortly after 11.30am on Monday in Leytonstone, east London, but his injuries were non-life threatening or changing.

Mohamed Nadir Dafallah, 18, from Wandsworth, and a 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have been charged with Cheyon's murder and are due to appear at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.