London has faced another night of violence resulting in the killing of one teenager and another left in a critical condition in a double stabbing, while a third man was taken to hospital with a life-threatening condition after being stabbed in a separate attack.
The first two attacks occurred Wednesday night, with the Metropolitan Police responding to a report of a stabbing in Hackney, north-east London. Emergency services arrived at the scene on Somerford Grove at 8:54 p.m. to find a 15-year-old boy suffering from stab injuries.
Despite attempts by police and paramedics, the youth was pronounced dead at the scene at 9:49 p.m. Another teenager, a 16-year-old male, was found with stab injuries in nearby Shacklewell Road. His injuries were reported as not life-threatening.
Just hours later at 12:17 a.m. on Thursday, police were called to reports of a stabbing on Camden Road, near Camden Town Underground Station, an area of north-west London popular for its nightlife. Police officers found a man with stab injuries who was treated at the scene by paramedics before being transported to hospital.
“His condition has been assessed as life-threatening,” a police spokesman said.
No suspects have yet been arrested in any of the three stabbings and investigations are ongoing.
The stabbings came as a poll revealed the popularity of Labour’s Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, is at its lowest, having slipped into negative figures for the first time since he was elected three years ago.
The Evening Standard reports 32 per cent of Londoners responding to the poll, conducted for City Hall by YouGov, as saying they are “satisfied” with the job the mayor is doing, compared to 33 per cent who say they are “dissatisfied.”
The leader of the Conservatives at City Hall, Gareth Bacon, told the London newspaper, “Londoners have understandably had enough of soaring violent crime rates, cancelled transport infrastructure upgrades, the ongoing Crossrail fiasco, missed house-building targets and millions being splurged on waste, bureaucracy and PR.”
Statistics published in October 2018 revealed that London knife crime had hit its highest ever level, while figures reported in January showed that 35 per cent of all knife crimes across England and Wales took place in London.
Mayor Khan has been criticised for wasting resources on investigating online hate crime and spending millions on green projects, while blaming the police’s inability to respond to rising crime on spending cuts by central government.
Last year, the capital saw 135 homicide victims — the highest number in a decade.