16-year-old boy stabbed to death in flats

A 16-year-old boy has been found stabbed to death in a stairwell in a block of flats after a party, police said today.

The boy was pronounced dead after being found in the ground floor of the block in Wandsworth, south west London, at 1.30am this morning, Scotland Yard said.

An undisclosed number of people have been arrested in connection with the murder, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said.

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Scola, of the Metropolitan Police's homicide and serious crime command, said they wanted to speak to a group of between five and eight men seen running from the scene at Albon House in Neville Gill Close.

"I believe the victim had attended a party in Albon House," he said.

"I need to trace everyone at that party, and in particular I am appealing for any information about a group of between five and eight males seen running from the scene into the surrounding streets and possibly through King George's Park."

The next of kin of the boy, who has not yet been formally identified, have been informed, but officers await formal identification, he said.

The people arrested already are in custody at police stations in south and central London.

PA