A man of 42 cried out for his family as he lay dying on one of London’s wealthiest streets after being stabbed seven times.
The victim staggered 100 yards after being knifed before collapsing on a road known as ‘millionaire’s row’.
Witnesses said he gasped for breath as passers-by tried to give first aid, applying pressure on his wounds to try to stem the bleeding.
But he died at the scene after the attack at about 10.20pm on Wednesday night.
Residents in Cathcart Road, Kensington, yesterday spoke of their shock that such a violent incident could take place in such an exclusive postcode.
Police officers at the scene in Chelsea, West London, today after a man was found stabbed
Multi-storey terraced houses sell for up to £5million on the street, where actor Hugh Grant owns a home. He bought the property for more than £2million in 2000.
Other wealthy neighbours include former Chelsea footballer Frank Lampard, who owns a home in a nearby road, and Casualty actress Mika Simmons.
Yesterday she tweeted: ‘A young black man has just been stabbed to death outside my flat on Cathcart Road, in Chelsea.’ Neighbours who rushed to give aid said they tried talking to the victim, who was wearing a dark blue sweatshirt, to keep him conscious.
He told them his name, that he was a father-of-three and that he wanted his family. A picture of him lying on the floor appears to show him wearing a wedding ring.
He has not officially been identified. Yesterday a university student, who lives nearby and was the first to come across the victim, said she believed the man was stabbed nearby before staggering into Cathcart Road.
She told the Daily Mail: ‘I was walking along the road to get a bus and he walked around the corner from behind and there was blood dripping from him everywhere and he was saying “I’ve been stabbed”.
‘I called 999 after he laid down on the floor. He was lying on his back in the road. Lots of people came from everywhere and were trying to help him, putting pressure on his wounds.
‘While he was lying there we were talking to him to try and keep him conscious, and he was telling us his name and saying that he had a family, he was a father of three and that he wanted his family.
‘We were trying to keep him conscious and awake but he died there after the ambulance came. You could see he wasn’t going to make it. There was blood everywhere.’ Another resident who helped the man said: ‘He had been stabbed about seven times.
‘We ran to him and he was on the floor and lots of us were helping him, trying to stop the bleeding. We were telling [him] to stay there and wait until the ambulance comes. He was saying his name and was talking about his family.’
Actress Mika Simmons told how the stabbing happened outside her flat in West London
Detectives are appealing for witnesses after the attackers fled, with a black car left in the middle of the street with its doors open. Tyre marks could also be seen on the road.
One resident, Victor Gambe, 54, said: ‘This used to be a quiet road, but in recent years more and more young people are hanging out on the estate, smoking, and a lot of them are not local, they come from other places.’
The latest killing in London’s knife crime epidemic means there have now been more than 70 suspected murders in London so far this year. In April it was revealed London’s murder rate had even overtaken New York’s.
A Met Police spokesman said: ‘Police were called at 10.21pm to reports of a stabbing on Cathcart Road. Despite the best efforts of the medical teams, he died at the scene shortly after 11.00pm.’
Local resident Mika Simmons, an actress who has been in the BBC’s Casualty and ITV’s Unforgotten, said the man ‘refused to give some other youths some money’.
Simmons, 42, who has also appeared in ITV’s Frenchman’s Creek, tweeted: ‘A young black man has just been stabbed to death outside my flat.
‘I’ve been told he was working as a delivery driver and refused to give some other youths some money.’
Neighbour Angus Hulme, 45, told MailOnline: ‘A woman was on the street when it happened.
‘A girl who’d been looking after him as he lay there said that he’s tried to get up but she told him to stay where he was and stay still.
‘She tried to get him talking while waiting for an ambulance. That’s when he said he had three kids.’
The attack left a trail of blood as the victim fled to escape or get help and a black SUV was disovered with traces of blood inside it which may have been his car.
It also happened near the home of model Liz Hurley, who has spoken about making London’s streets safer after her nephew Miles was stabbed in Wandsworth in March.
The victim was found seriously injured and died 40 minutes later at the scene, which is a short walk away from Chelsea FC’s ground Stamford Bridge.
Another local delivery driver, Aji Ali, 29, told MailOnline: ‘A police officer and a neighbour told me that this poor guy was stabbed and ran through a tall building and out of the other side.
‘I don’t know whether he was escaping or running for help. It’s definitely really scary for me as I’m a delivery driver myself, particularly with all the stabbings going on in London now.’
Neighbours Ellen Maatta and Saga Granberg, both 19, told MailOnline how they walked past what they think might have been the murder victim’s abandoned car and saw ‘loads of blood’.
A body is removed from the scene in Chelsea this morning following the incident last night
Ms Maatta said: ‘We walked past a black SUV car at just after 10.30pm. The driver’s door was left open and there was loads of blood on the driver’s side inside. Someone else was looking inside at the same time and ran to get the emergency services.’
Ms Granberg added: ‘We saw armed police officers and went back indoors. It was so scary. We were really shocked. We couldn’t believe it.’
Another man, who did not want to be identified, told MailOnline: ‘I was smoking out of my window nearby at about 10.30pm last night when I saw a few people helping someone lying in the street. I knew something bad was going on.
‘I went down and I saw a black man aged 30 to 40, clean shaven with short hair, wearing dark jeans and drenched in blood on the road. He’d been stabbed in his chest and in the top of his leg. He was unconscious but still breathing.
‘He was obviously in shock as his leg was kicking out. Two men and two women had put a tourniquet around his leg but there was loads of blood coming out. I asked how I could help. The guys told me to check for any further wounds.
‘But they’re weren’t any cuts in his clothing. I dialled 999 and was told the emergency services were already on their way. Within a matter of I don’t know how many minutes they’d arrived.
‘But by the time they got to us this man’s eyes were rolling back. They tried to treat him in some way right there in the street. I couldn’t sleep last night. I’m really shocked after seeing something like that.’
Witness Khaled Ahmed, 26, was driving his Audi RS7 when he came across the scene as emergency services were arriving.
The business management undergraduate at Westminster University said: ‘I saw him on the floor, I saw a dead body on the floor so I parked up.
‘I was with my girlfriend and we were just driving past. First I saw blood on the floor and followed the blood all the way around a corner.
‘I recorded it on my phone all the way to the scene and there was armed police, ambulance and I stood by. The blood was on the pavement – he must have been running on it.
‘There was an Indian Deliveroo driver and a few neighbours there. I’m in front of the police and I could hear them speaking to police.
‘They were saying how the folks got out of the car and chased him down the road and that’s when the stabbing happened and he turned to the corner of the Cathcart Road and he stood still and then collapsed.
‘There was one proper witness – a man in Army shorts, he was from the Army too. He said they barged the man into him and saw everything. The ambulance they operated – they opened his chest and put hands to the heart to pump it.
‘Your body changes when you see something like that, especially when there’s so much blood. I’ve never seen someone die.’
Mr Ahmed, of St John’s Wood, north west London, said the abandoned car was a large black-family sized car. He saw a man of south Asian appearance carrying a large Deliveroo carrier bag filming the scene and trail of blood on his mobile phone.
Forensic officers stand today at the scene of the stabbing in the upmarket area of West London
Other witnesses claimed the victim was a delivery driver himself and left a ‘trail of blood’ before pronounced dead.
Kerem Sozugecur, 39, spoke to police this morning. He said: ‘They told me that there was a trail of blood going up. The body was dragged up to here – I think so, he wasn’t originally there.’
Adrian Jae, 58, a chauffeur who lives near the murder scene, added: ‘There’s an alleyway and a similar alleyway at the far end of the building. They both go around the back to gain access.
‘Forensics were down there till 4am. I saw two guys in white suits.’
Ferne Arfin said forensics searched a black hatchback car which was ‘pulled over to the kerb and the doors were open’ at about 1am at the scene. She said: ‘It was right outside my window, it was not a delivery car.’
Police officers carry out their investigation today at the scene of the stabbing last night
A 24-year-old woman, who asked not to be named, told how she saw the victim laying on his back in the street at just after 11pm yesterday.
‘Our whole front room was lighting up and we wondered what it was,’ she said. ‘He was just laid in the middle of the road on his back. He wasn’t moving.
‘The guy was just laid diagonally across the street. All the police were really quick, it was really good, they were all running down the street.’
The witness said she did not hear any arguments, adding: ‘It was just really quiet and I came out and everyone was already there. No one heard anything or saw anything.’
Scotland Yard has now launched a murder investigation. No arrests have been made and a crime scene remains in place at the scene of the stabbing.
The victim’s next of kin have been informed, but formal identification is yet to take place. Police were called to the scene at 10.21pm yesterday.
Police at the scene in Chelsea, West London, today where a man was stabbed to death
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: ‘I was deeply saddened to learn of the fatal stabbing of a man in Kensington last night and my thoughts are with his friends and family.
‘The police are doing everything in their power to bring those responsible to justice. If you carry a knife, be prepared to face the full force of the law. I remain in close contact with the Met Police and I am meeting the Deputy Commissioner later today.
‘We must all work together to bring an end to senseless violent crime, which affects the whole country. I am continuing to do all I can to tackle this dreadful scourge, including investing millions in the Met’s new Violent Crime Task Force.
‘Last week I saw their work for myself, accompanying them on a raid which led to a number of arrests.’
Anyone who saw the incident or has any information should call 101 or the incident room on 0208 358 0200, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Scotland Yard has launched a murder investigation following the stabbing in West London
Earlier this week, it was claimed that gang members suspected of inciting violent feuds on social media are to be treated like terror suspects.
Police will use new powers to target gangsters who promote violence in videos shared on websites such as YouTube.
Scotland Yard has blamed social media for the rising murder rate in London, singling out the ‘drill’ genre of rap music for glamorising violent crime.
Commander Jim Stokley, who leads the Met’s response to gang crime, told The Times new measures would make it easier for detectives to pursue suspects.
Currently, officers have to prove that videos and social media posts are directly linked to individual acts of violence to secure a conviction for incitement.
Scotland Yard is investigating 69 homicides across the capital since the start of the year
But the Terrorism Act allows suspects to be convicted even if videos or posts are not linked to specific violent acts.
Mr Stokley said that for gangs ‘there isn’t specific legislation and clearly we can’t use terror legislation (but) in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, we have found some existing legislation which we are going to use.’
Mr Stokley stressed that the new measures, set out in the Serious Crime Act, would require the judiciary to agree with their reading of the law.
If this does not go to plan, the Met plans to seek the new legislation in consultation with the Home Office.
YouTube users can easily watch drill videos that feature masked gangs threatening each other with aggressive lyrics and gestures, some attracting millions of views.
Scotland Yard Commander Jim Stockley, pictured, said gang members are inciting violent feuds on social media using videos posted on sites such as YouTube
The Met Police believe these violent videos are behind an increase in gangland murders
The Met has built up a database of more than 1,400 videos to identify those involved and monitor tensions among rival gangs.
In the past two years, police have asked YouTube to take down up to 60 videos but are forced to prove the clips are harmful first. Yesterday it was revealed the Google-owned site has only removed just over 30.
Met Commissioner Cressida Dick has linked drill videos, which she said describe stabbings with ‘great joy and excitement’, to at least one attack. She said web giants had a ‘social responsibility’ to remove content that incites violence.
YouTube said most of the videos flagged by the Met are no longer available and that it has developed policies to tackle clips related to knife crime.
It comes after new Home Secretary Sajid Javid backed increased uses of stop and search powers and endorsed spit guards being rolled out to forces across the country.
Mr Javid said he is ‘absolutely determined’ to put an end to violence that is ‘terminating young lives far too soon’.
Referring to stop and search, he told the Police Federation of England and Wales’ annual conference in Birmingham: ‘Some of you don’t feel comfortable using it – and that’s not how it should be.
‘I have confidence in your professional judgment. So let me be clear – I support the use of stop and search.
‘You have to do your job and that means protecting everyone.’
The Home Secretary said it is ‘ridiculous’ that spit guards are available in some force areas but not others.
The hoods are made of mesh and can be placed over suspects’ heads to protect officers from being bitten or spat at.
The Home Secretary used his first speech to the Police Federation to support an increased use of stop and search powers and the rollout of spit guards across the UK
Mr Javid used his speech to pledge to officers he would provide ‘tools, the powers and the back-up that you need to get the job done’.
He said: ‘For those of you who stand on the front line, be in no doubt that I will be standing with you.
‘I’m not arrogant enough to turn up here after three weeks in the job and tell you how to do yours.
‘What I will say is that I am listening and I get it. I get that there’s increased demand.’
Mr Javid claimed that, including funds raised through council tax, more than £1 billion extra cash is being invested in policing now than three years ago.