Boy, 14, dies after stabbing near school

A 14-year-old boy has died and three other teenagers suffered knife wounds in an altercation in north London.

A man said to be in his late thirties was arrested after reports of an assault, and police said that the four boys had suffered a total of 14 stab wounds between them.

Tom Bridger, 36, who works as a barman in Hampstead, north London, lives close to the scene of the stabbings and said: "I came out of my flat at four o'clock to go to the shops and saw a boy lying on a stretcher. Ambulance people and police officers were pumping his chest trying to save him.

"I've heard there was a fight. Perhaps the boys were from a school which is nearby – the headmaster was there."

Police were alerted to an assaultin West Green Road at 3.45pm andthe boy was pronounced dead 45minutes later. The three injured teenagers were taken to hospital for treatment.