Croydon: Boy, 17, held over killing of girl with 'bright future'

Cards, candles and flowers have been left at the scene

Police have been given an extra 24 hours to question a 17-year-old boy arrested over the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old schoolgirl in Croydon.

The "much-loved" girl, with a "bright future", died after being attacked with a foot-long (30cm) knife on her way to school during morning rush-hour on Wednesday.

The boy, who was known to the victim, was arrested an hour later.

Detectives now have until Friday morning to charge or release him.

A family friend has said the girl's little brother "is going to be so heartbroken".

Adama Dumbuya said: "It's just really sad. She was such a lovely little girl. I'm a parent myself.

"She was just really lovely the few times I've met her. She's just a very nice girl and very polite. She helped a lot to look after her brother. I just can't imagine what he is going to be like.

"I know they were so close. She always looked after him. He is going to be so heartbroken."

Cards and flowers have been left near where the girl died

Cards, candles and more than 40 bunches of flowers have been left near the scene, and the girl's school paid tribute to its "valued friend and pupil".

One woman, who works nearby and who grew up in Croydon, laid flowers by the police tape.

She said: "That young girl could not even go to school without being cut down. We all have young teenagers in our lives, in our families. It has just struck a chord."

A mother who had just dropped her children at school on the morning of the stabbing said she had noticed someone was lying down on the floor.

"I drove round, parked up and tried to get as close as I could. Two young girls were saying it was a young lady and she had been stabbed in the neck.

"I haven't really slept properly, because I still have that image of her lying there."

The 15-year-old was described as "having a bright future"

Anthony King, chairman of My Ends, a project helping combat youth violence in Croydon, was with the girl's family following shortly after the incident and said they were "heartbroken".

He also said the arrested boy had been known to local community groups for the past couple of years.

Security worker Victor Asare said members of the public rushed to help after the girl was attacked.

He said: "The blood was coming like water. A lot of people came, everyone came off the bus.

"[The suspect] ran away. Everybody was crying and screaming. The girl was on the floor.

"We tried to catch him and a lot of people tried to save the girl. I was so shocked, I was shaken. It's somebody's daughter.

"I finished work but couldn't sleep, so came back, I wanted to see if the girl was OK."

Teenage victims

The girl who died in Croydon on Wednesday is the 15th teenage victim of homicide in London so far this year.

Of the young people killed, the vast majority, 13, were stabbed, while two were shot. The other 14 are:

• Chima Osuji, 17, fatally stabbed after being chased by an attacker in Chingford, east London

• Tyler McDermott, 17, died after being found with a gunshot wound in Norman Road, Tottenham, north London

• Wazabakana Elenda Jordan Kukabu, known as Jordan, 18, from Romford, Essex, fatally stabbed near Dagenham Heathway Underground Station

• Renell Charles, 16, a pupil at Kelmscott School in Walthamstow, fatally stabbed in the chest near his school

• Khaled Saleh, 17, found with stab wounds in Paddington Green, central London

• Victor Lee, 17, found stabbed in a canal under Scrubs Lane, near Willesden Junction, west London

• Leonardo Reid, 15, fatally stabbed during a music video shoot in Elthorne Road, Archway, north London

• Andre Salmon, 18, shot in the chest in Stamford Road, Tottenham,north London

• Rahaan Ahmed Amin, 16, stabbed in the heart in West Ham Park in Newham, east London

• Claudyo Jauad Lafayette, 17, fatally stabbed in a fight in the street following a birthday party in Granville Road, Kilburn, north west London

• Stefan Valentine Balaban, 19, stabbed in Whitchurch Lane, Edgware, north London

• Yusuf Mohamoud, 18, found with fatal knife injuries near a supermarket in Regent's Park Road, Finchley, north London

• Anis Omar Zen, 19, fatally stabbed in Masefield Avenue in Stanmore, north London

• Max Moy Wheatley, 19, stabbed in Jubilee Country Park close to Tent Peg Lane in Petts Wood, south east London

One of the cards left near the scene of attack read: "Sorry we live in this crazy world. This makes no sense.

"Fly high up there my mummy will look after you. RIP beautiful, forever young, taken too soon.

"Thoughts and prayers are with your family and friends, God bless."

Tributes have been left at the scene of the stabbing

Youth worker Mr King said the girl - who was in her GCSE year at Old Palace of John Whitgift School - "had a bright future ahead of her".

He described her as an "absolutely incredible young lady" and told of how others said she was "jovial, very comedic".

He told BBC Radio London he met the girl's friends and family following the attack.

"This is the fourth or fifth time that I've had to look a parent in the eye and tell them their child has died. It's the worst day of my life and I can't imagine what that feeling is like [for them]."

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley visited the scene and said: "The senseless murder of a 15-year-old girl on her way to school is impossible to comprehend.

"It was moving and humbling to meet many members of the exceptional Croydon community who have come together in support of a family now dealing with the most unimaginable grief."

Forensic investigators at the scene of the stabbing

Witness Mr Asare said the girl, who was wearing a green school blazer, looked as if she "didn't want the boy to come closer" before she was stabbed in the neck with a knife that was "black, thin and about a foot long".

A bus driver and a passer-by were seen trying to save the girl before emergency services arrived, with police at the scene within two minutes.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he was "absolutely heartbroken" at the news of the girl's death.

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