London crime: Think before you pull out a knife, pleads mother of teenager murdered after ‘trivial’ WhatsApp row

The mother of a teenager stabbed to death following a “trivial” WhatsApp row today pleaded with young people carrying knives to “think before you act”.

Jordan Wright, 19, had traded insults with Paul Akinnuoye, 20, over who was the “least gay” in a group chat before the pair agreed to fight in Blackheath.

Mr Wright, who was due to start a construction apprenticeship, believed he was turning up for a fist fight. But Akinnuoye came armed with a small knife and, after a scuffle, stabbed the teenager repeatedly in a park near Hervey Road on April 19 last year.

At the Old Bailey yesterday Akinnuoye, of Tunbridge Wells, was jailed for 21 years after being convicted of murder in February.

After the sentencing Mr Wright’s mother Katharine Alade said she was “at a loss” to explain how a petty argument resulted in her son’s murder.

Speaking at her home in Catford, she told the Standard: “My son is never going to have a life. He is never going to give me grandchildren. My son was supposed to be burying me, not me burying my son. People don’t realise the impact of their actions. The youth are so different to how they used to be when I was growing up.

“I would say ‘think before you act’. This boy has destroyed his life — the only benefit he has is that in 21 years’ time he is still going to have a life.”

The court heard that Mr Wright, the youngest of five siblings, and Akinnuoye were not friends but were members of the same WhatsApp group chat, named “Ice City Boyz”.

The argument included Akinnuoye calling Mr Wright a “batty boy”, to which he retorted: “On your mum’s life I’m straighter than you.”

Wearing a pendant with her son’s picture round her neck, Ms Alade, 55, said: “I think about my son every day. My son is dead because of something trivial. It’s unbelievable… the influences and readily available rubbish on the internet seem to have made youngsters grow up before their time.” In a victim impact statement she read out in court, Ms Alade said her son’s autism meant he was “not realistic” and “did not fully take on board the dangers on the streets these days.”

His father Neville said: “Jordan was my son, his death has changed my life forever. I think of him every day... of what he would have achieved in life — he is gone, but not forgotten.” Mr Wright was the seventh teenager murdered in London in 2017. So far this year, 14 teenagers have lost their lives to violent crime in the capital.

Sentencing Akinnuoye, Judge Philip Katz said Mr Wright’s death had been the result of an “utterly trivial ­dispute”.

He condemned Akinnuoye’s friends who encouraged the fight on WhatsApp, adding: “Jordan lost his life as a result of this pathetic goading on social media. Jordan’s death was as pointless as it was tragic.”

Detective Inspector Jo Sideaway said afterwards: “This murder left Jordan’s family devastated and was a big shock to the local community. I hope today’s sentencing will bring some closure for his loved ones.”

Three other men who were arrested on suspicion of murder after the stabbing were all released with no further action.