This is the moment a restaurant owner tackles a knifeman in his shop just a year after his 14 year old son was stabbed to death.

The man was threatening a girl in his Caribbean food shop when Julius Cools stepped in to remove the machete-length knife.

Last November, Julius’ son Jermaine was fatally stabbed near West Croydon train station for which a 16-year-old boy has been arrested and charged.

At 14 years old, Jermaine was the youngest person to be stabbed and killed on London’s streets in 2021, a year in which 30 teenagers lost their lives and which set a grim record for teenage stabbings in the capital.

In the security camera footage, Mr Cools can be seen wrestling the attacker who is wearing a black jacket with a hood over his head.

The pair roll into a set of chairs and tables and bundle into the counter before he yanks the forearm-length blade away from his attacker and orders him out of Cools Kitchen on Portland Road, South Norwood.

But he said that the police didn't seem interested in even looking at the CCTV footage and the knifeman is stil at large.

He described the incident which he said happened around three weeks ago: “I was in my shop, the girl came into to buy something, asking about the food and he came in so angry and arguing and I realised it was getting out of hand.

“I tried to separate them, I pushed the guy away telling him get out of my shop and I realised he had his knife.

“I don’t know where I got the energy from but I just did. He could have stabbed me, I don’t know.”

Asked if he had ever seen the man before, the 47-year-old said: “I think he came in the shop before but I think he was following the girl from around the corner as she came into the shop.

“It is a good job she came in otherwise he could have attacked her in the street.”

He said that he kept the knife even though the attacker was asking for it back.

In the video he can be seen arguing across the counter before giving up and walking out.

Julius added: “The police came but they did not do nothing. They could have gone down the road and caught the guy if they were interested.

“When they came, I gave a statement and I said just watch the video but they were not interested.

“I said when my son was killed, nobody ever helped him. I tried to help that little girl. The same thing that happened with me happened with my son.”

Julius said: “All I was thinking that day was that the girl could have died in the same way in my shop. I was doing it to protect that girl, she was only 16 or 17, she has her whole life ahead of her.

“We live in a world where if you leave your house you don’t know if you are going back home. This is the life we are living now.

“These young kids don’t care, they will kill you and laugh about it. They do not care, they have no Lord in their heart.

“All I am saying to people now is to be careful, kids and adults, anyone can get killed any time, any day.

“I am not scared of them, I don’t care. Since I lost my son last year I have no fear.”