Girlfriend's tribute to 'kind' carpenter stabbed to death in Battersea

Tributes were today paid to a “kind and well-spoken” carpenter who was stabbed to death near Prince George’s primary school in Battersea.

Malachi Brooks, 22, was ambushed and murdered as he made his way home just after 1am yesterday spending the evening at a friend’s house.

Neighbours in Surrey Lane said they called emergency services after hearing the victims “screams of pain”.

Paramedics battled for more than an hour to save the young man’s life, performing emergency surgery at the side of the road, before he was pronounced dead at 1.55am.

The incident happened just yards from the private Thomas’s School, where Prince George is due to start school in September.

Friends who gathered at the scene described Mr Brooks as a “family man” who was not involved in gangs and said they could not understand why anyone would hurt him.

His mother broke down in tears after lighting a candle in the makeshift shrine of bouquets and cards.

Mr Brooks, a former pupil of Southfields Academy and Lambeth College, grew up in Brixton but moved Battersea to be with his girlfriend of two-and-a-half years Rebecca Nowland.

Miss Nowland, 24, said she was “devastated and broken” at his murder, adding: “He wasn’t just my boyfriend, he was my best friend, my rock. Words can’t describe how much I miss him already.”

Her brother Ben, 18, added: “Malachi was the brother I never had. Malachi was the coolest, funniest, most loving and outgoing person you could ever meet who always had time for others.”

A man who has been friends with Malachi for six years told the Standard: “He had left my house the night it happened. Then I got a call from his girlfriend saying he had been murdered.

“I don’t know why someone would do this. My head is all over the place. He’s just a family man.

“He was my best friend. We were together every day. He was a good, genuinely nice guy. He was friendly and helpful. Always so caring.

“He got As and Bs at school he was a really smart guy. He had 14 GCSEs. I’m gutted. It’s very sad. He was really loved.

“This is a big loss. Why do this to such a good guy? Why him? There was blood everywhere. He must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. ”

Neville Alfanso Williams, who taught Mr Brooks kickboxing at Southfields, described him in an online post as a “good boy” who never gave him any trouble.

He said: “What a senseless killing of a humble young man. I just met his mother and some of his siblings, the whole family are devastated.

“He was not into gang things, he was a happy and well-loved person and his life was cut short over what, well let’s just say for now foolishness.

“The emergency services did all they could to save him, they spent an hour right there trying to stabilise him, I’ve been told they even opened him up to massage his heart but he died.

“This is really out of control and something has to change.”

Mr Brooks’s cousin Chey Marie said her family was “in pieces”, writing on Facebook: “It breaks my heart to think my gorgeous humble cousin was laying there fighting for his life.

“I hope they find whoever did this because it’s devastating. My family’s in pieces.”

A family member added: “Someone saw something. Someone knows something. Someone needs to talk up. Our family needs answers. Don’t hide the little scumbag who has broken our family.

“I will never understand how anybody feels they have the right to end somebody’s life just like that in such a cowardly way.”

Detective Inspector Tony Lynes, leading the investigation, said: “This was a brutal attack on a young man.

“We are still trying to establish the circumstances behind this incident, and we are appealing to anybody who was in the area at around the time of the attack - from 12.45am onwards - or who lives nearby and may have seen or heard something to come forward and speak to officers as soon as possible.”

There have been no arrests.

Anyone with information is asked to call the incident room on 020 8721 4868, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.