Sixteen-year-old boy dies after stabbing attack

An investigation is under way into the murder of a teenage boy who was stabbed to death in a south east London street.

Onlookers described blood "pouring" out of the 16-year-old's neck moments after he was knifed in broad daylight yesterday.

One witness said he watched the boy's life "slip away" as he lay on the pavement on Upper Wickham Lane in Welling.

Police attended the scene at about 5pm following reports of the stabbing, but ambulance crews, including an air ambulance, were unable to save him and he died later in hospital.

A male was arrested in connection with the stabbing and is in custody at a south London police station, Scotland Yard said.

Sam Pope, 19, who works at Bartletts florist next door to the Superdrug, told how she discovered the teenager bleeding to death on the street and saw three boys fleeing the scene.

"I had just gone outside for a cigarette when I saw blood on the ground," she said.

"It was not a very nice scene. The boy was standing up and I saw blood absolutely pouring out of his neck."

She helped him down to the floor and called emergency services.

While waiting for them to arrive, her colleague flagged down an ambulance, she said.

"The ambulance was on its way to hospital but it stopped and the paramedics helped him," she said.

But it was too late to save the boy.

"He was silent and had his eyes open," she said. "It all happened so quickly."

The victim has not yet been formally identified and his next of kin have not yet been informed. He was believed to live locally.

Angela Read, 48, who owns the florist and joined Ms Pope at the scene, described the futile efforts she and other local shop workers made to save the teenager's life.

"Someone from inside Superdrug threw out kitchen towels and a woman from Loose Linen (a shop across the road) brought out some towels," she said.

"We tried to suppress the bleeding but if you had been a top professional you wouldn't have saved the lad.

"There was blood all over the pavement and we watched his life slip away in front of us."

David Walker, 83, said a bike and crash helmet lay on the ground within the area being guarded by police.

"We were horrified," he said.

"Nobody could say it's quiet around here but nothing like this has happened here before."

Police asked anybody with any information to call 0300 123 1212.