Second man charged with murder of Leicester football coach Antoin Akpom

Victim died of single stab wound after being found injured in the street

A second man has been charged with the murder of a youth football coach who was stabbed to death in the street.

The 19-year-old man, who has not yet been named, is due to appear at Leicester Magistrates' Court tomorrow charged with the murder of Antoin Akpom.

He is the second person to be charged by police investigating the 20-year-old's murder.

Abdul Hakim, 19, of Wood Hill, Leicester was remanded in custody after appearing in court last month charged with Mr Akpom's murder. He is next due to appear at Leicester Crown Court on Friday.

Mr Akpom, who coached a youth football team at Leicester Nirvana FC, was found injured in Kent Street, Leicester, at about 5.30pm on September 12. He died in hospital later that evening. An inquest which was opened and adjourned at Leicester Town Hall last month heard he died from a single stab wound to the chest.

Detectives investigating his death have been examining possible links between his killing and a suspected arson attack which killed a mother and her three teenage children in the city on Friday September 13.

Shehnila Taufiq, 47, her daughter Zainab, 19, and sons Bilal, 17, and Jamil, 15, died after a fire engulfed their home in Wood Hill, Leicester, in the early hours of Friday September 13.

Last night Leicestershire Police said: “We can confirm that we are working on the presumption that both cases are linked.”

Six men and a 16-year-old youth have been charged in connection with the murders of the four family members in the blaze.

Kemo Anthony Porter, 18; Nathaniel Mullings, 19; Jackson Powell, 19; Aaron Webb, 19; Akeem Jeffers, 21, and Shaun Carter, 24, along with a 16-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons have all been remanded into custody following court appearances.

They are next due to appear at Leicester Crown Court on Friday.

PA