Yet another murder probe has been launched in Lawless London after a man died a week after he was stabbed as the capital’s death soars towards 80 in 2018.
The 23-year-old had been brought to a south London hospital in a critical condition on June 11 after he received stab injuries during ‘a fight’.
Officers rushed to Bermondsey that evening and found the man in a life-threatening condition. He was pronounced dead on Monday morning.
Violent crime soared by 21 per cent last year, with 1.3 million offences recorded by police. Knife crime rose by 22 per cent.
The 23-year-old had been brought to a south London hospital in a critical condition on June 11 after he received stab injuries during ‘a fight’ in Lacey Way, Bermondsey (pictured)
There have been more than 70 killings in London this year, many of them stabbings, and at one point the capital’s murder rate was higher than that of New York.
The man’s next of kin have been told and a post-mortem examination will take place in due course, the Metropolitan Police said.
The force said the man may have been fatally injured after a fight and have appealed for information.
Detective Inspector Ian Titterrell said: ‘At this early stage, we believe an altercation involving a group of males began outside Helen Taylor House in Linsey Street.
‘The victim then took shelter at an address on Lucey Way after being attacked.
‘We know there were a large number of people in the vicinity at the time of the attack and I am appealing for anyone with information to get in touch.
‘Any information will be treated with the strictest of confidence.’
Scotland Yard published figures last week showing that only one in ten knife robberies and fewer than a quarter of violent crimes involving a bladed weapon were solved in London last year.
An array of knives collected at Bethnal Green Police Station by police officers, including an enormous blade with its handle wrapped up seemingly to improve the grip (centre)
The number of knifepoint robberies resulting in anyone being punished has dropped from 20 per cent in 2015 to just 11 per cent in 2017.
Last year there was a total of 80 fatal stabbings in the capital – the most in almost a decade.
Official figures show that 2017 was the worst year for knife deaths among young people since at least 2002.
Forty-six people aged 25 or under were stabbed to death in London, up by 21 compared with the previous year, according to police figures.
Britain’s knife crime epidemic has also spread to the Home Counties, with stabbings now more likely in Bedfordshire than in Merseyside.
Scores of knives confiscated by Tower Hamlets Police in the last year. Many are about a foot long and have lethal-looking serrated edges
Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Warwickshire, Norfolk and north Wales’ rates of knife crime have all increased by more than 100 per cent in the past three years.
The epidemic is being fuelled by city gangs expanding their territory and going into rural areas, forcing out local gangs with extreme violence, according to experts.
Violent crime is up in 42 of 43 police force areas.
Half of constabularies saw at least a 20 per cent rise in the year to last December, according to data from the Office of National Statistics.
Three forces recorded surges of at least 50 per cent. Some of the largest increases were in rural areas.
Three people were arrested after this knife was seized from a group of youths in Lewisham