Jodie Chesney: Teenage boy becomes fourth person charged with murder of girl scout

Seventeen-year-old Jodie was stabbed from behind in motiveless attack at London park in March

A 17-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of teenage girl scout Jodie Chesney in an east London park.

The Metropolitan Police said the teenager was charged with murder and possession of a stun gun on Sunday.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is the fourth person charged with the murder of 17-year-old Jodie.

Manuel Petrovic, aged 20, Svenson Ong-a-kwie, 19, and an unnamed 16-year-old are the others accused of killing the girl scout.

Jodie was playing music with friends near a children’s playground in March when she was stabbed from behind in an apparently unprovoked attack.

The three people already charged are due to stand trial for her murder in September at the Old Bailey.

A 50-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman who had been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender have been released while police continue their investigation.

The 17-year-old boy charged today is due before Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

After the senseless killing in March, which inflamed fears about the rise in knife crime, friends and family of Jodie tied purple ribbons in her memory to trees and railings outside the courts where her alleged murderers appeared.

The 16-year-old, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, cried in the dock as the charge was read out when he appeared at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court in March.

The boy, with Mr Petrovic and Mr Ong-a-kwie, is next due in court at the Old Bailey on Tuesday for a plea hearing, ahead of their trial beginning in September.