Sofyen Belamouadden had 'no chance' against knife gang

A 15-year-old who was stabbed to death in front of horrified commuters at Victoria Station had "no chance" of defending himself, according to one witness.

Fulham schoolboy Sofyen Belamouadden was stabbed nine times in the ticket hall of the station after being surrounded by youths.

After four trials lasting 21 months, three have been convicted of murder, five of manslaughter, nine on lesser charges and three cleared.

On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal ruled that Junior Bayode, the final person to be convicted, will not face a retrial.

He was found guilty of manslaughter in October, however the Crown Prosecution Service had wanted him to be retried for murder.

The Reverend Canon Anthony Ball, who witnessed the attack on 25 March 2010, said he had been heading towards the ticket hall during the evening rush hour when suddenly most of the people around him turned around and walked in the opposite direction.

It was then that he saw a group of youths surrounding a boy.

He said: "They were sort of pushing him to the floor, kicking him."

Mr Ball said he could not understand why no-one in the station was trying to help the boy or trying to break up the gang.

"I saw one of the attackers had a long implement in their hand and they made a kind of stabbing motion on the boy who was being attacked.

'Great potential'

"He was trying to get himself off the floor and he was just being kicked and attacked. After the stabbing the attackers kind of fled and the boy was left on the floor.

"He had no chance against his attackers. He wasn't getting any help. There was just him, surrounded. As I now know, he was actually stabbed to death. He didn't have a chance to defend himself."

Mr Ball said he had tried to help Sofyen as he lay on the floor of the station.

Sofyen's teacher Phil Stephenson said his death was a tragic loss to his friends and family

"I tried to comfort him, I tried to speak to him to see if I could get any reaction to say it was going to be all right and to say a prayer."

The promising footballer suffered wounds to his heart, a lung and major blood vessels during the 12-second attack.

It had followed a pre-arranged clash between rivals at two west London schools after a minor clash between the groups in the station's food area.

The teenagers had come prepared with knives and a samurai sword for the clash.

Phil Stephenson, Sofyen's PE teacher at Henry Compton School, said the teenager had shown huge potential and was highly regarded.

"He was very popular. He was popular with the pupils, he was also popular with the staff, he had a wonderful sense of humour.

"I spoke to his head of year at the time and she was very keen to emphasise how supportive he was to his peers, how he'd always try to help them and his sense of humour which [shone] through."

Mr Stephenson said Sofyen's death was a tragic loss as he was a boy with "great potential" and had a rare "joie de vivre".