Teenager becomes 24th stabbing victim after weekend violence

An 18-year-old who was stabbed to death in the early hours of yesterday morning has become the 24th teenager to be murdered in London this year.

Charles Junior Hendricks was found bleeding to death from a single stab wound near a bus garage in Walthamstow, east London, by police officers on a routine patrol. He was taken to a nearby hospital by ambulance but died shortly after his arrival.

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The teenager's murder came on a bank holiday weekend marred by a series of violent incidents in other parts of the country. In the early hours of Saturday morning, an 18-year-old man was left in a critical condition after suffering a severe head injury in a street attack in the town of Walton, Essex.

And on Saturday night, a man died in hospital in Birmingham after being shot in the chest. Dimitri Foskin, 24, had been socialising with friends near his house in the Newtown area shortly before he was attacked. The incident marks the third fatal shooting to occur in that part of the city in less than a year.

Following the death of the teenager in London, a man in his 20s and a 17-year-old were arrested. Plans to celebrate the handover of the Olympic Games in Walthamstow Town Square were cancelled. Flower tributes were left for the victim close to where he was found. One read: "We love you so much. You have left a gap in our hearts and you will be missed every second of every day. We will miss the sunshine that you brought to our lives. We love you." The murder took place in Waltham Forest, one of the boroughs where the 2012 Olympic Games will be staged. Clyde Loakes, the leader of the local council, called yesterday for a meeting with other local authority chiefs to tackle knife crime.

"I was devastated to learn that instead of celebrating London officially becoming the next Olympic host, in Walthamstow we would be mourning the loss of another young life," he said.

"I intend to call an urgent meeting of the leaders and mayors of the five host boroughs. As host boroughs, we must use the power of the Games coming to east London to inspire change in our communities and change for our young people," he added.

The latest killing brings the number of teenagers murdered in the capital this year to 24, a figure only two short of the 2007 total, prompting fears that knife and gun crime among young Londoners is on the rise.

Just over a week ago, 17-year-old Nilanthan Murddi died after his throat was slashed in a suspected racist attack. The teenager had been chatting with a group of his friends on a street corner in Croydon, south London.

According to the British Crime Survey, overall violent crime in the UK has decreased by 41 per cent since peaking in 1995. However, these figures do not include under-16s, a fact that the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, has promised will soon change.