Teenager stabbed to death as youths armed with knives and baseball bats clash in south east London

A teenager was stabbed to death and another injured as fighting erupted between youths armed with knives and baseball bats in a residential street.

Police were called to Alwold Crescent in Lee at about 10pm yesterday.

A short time later two 18-year-olds attended a south London hospital with serious stab injuries. They had been driven there by friends. One died in hospital, the 24th teenager to be violently killed in London this year. The second was treated and discharged.

Five people were arrested and were being interviewed at south London police stations this morning.

Police were searching the street on the Horn Park estate off the South Circular, A205, and sealed off a railway bridge.

Neighbours reported seeing a group of youths armed with baseball bats, and one resident and her daughter found what is believed to be a knife used in the attack.

One said: “I heard some screaming and shouting. There was a gang of kids but I couldn’t really see them in the dark.” Another resident said: “I saw a hammer wrapped in cloth lying in the street which the police took details about.”

Meanwhile police released an image of 18-year-old Aron Warren, who was stabbed to death at his brother’s flat in Greenwich on Saturday evening.

Detective Chief Inspector Larry Smith, who is leading the investigation, said he was appealing to anyone who was near Topham House in Prior Street from about 9.15pm that evening to contact police.

He said: “We believe Aron was attacked inside the flat, so I am keen to speak to anyone who let someone into the building prior to the murder or who saw anyone fleeing the scene.”

The teenager’s uncle, David Murray, told the Standard: “Aron’s mother is totally distraught. She can’t come to terms with what has happened. He was a lovely young lad and it’s just a tragedy. It’s such a waste of a life.”

A boy aged 17 from Penge has been charged with the murder of 15-year-old Jay Hughes, who was stabbed near a chicken shop in Bellingham on November 1. The teenager cannot be named for legal reasons.