World | UK
UK teen stabbed to death in gang fight
A teenager was stabbed to death after he tried to protect his younger brother when he was threatened by a group of men in a pub.
- The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2008
- Published: 00:11 May 25, 2008
London: A teenager was stabbed to death after he tried to protect his younger brother when he was threatened by a group of men in a pub.
Friends said the murder victim, who they named as 18-year-old Robert Knox, worked as a film extra and was due to appear in the new Harry Potter film coming out in November.
He died after intervening on behalf of his younger brother Jamie Knox, 16, when two men, including one said to be armed with two knives, came into the bar.
A fight erupted inside the Metro bar, next to Sidcup train station, on the south-east London-north Kent border, before spilling outside onto the pavement and into the road.
Robert - who went to the same Sidcup Rugby Club as "gentle giant" teenager Jimmy Mizen, who was murdered in nearby Lee two weeks ago - was pronounced dead shortly after the incident late at night. The stabbing happened just yards from the shoe shop owned by Jimmy's parents in Sidcup High Street.
Scotland Yard confirmed a young man died from knife wounds, a 21-year-old man suffered stab wounds to his chest and a 16-year-old youth also had knife wounds to his chest.
Man arrested
All of the injuries are "serious" but not life threatening, police said in a statement.
A police spokesman said: "A man aged 21 has been arrested on suspicion of murder. He is being held in custody." Robert, who lived with his family in nearby Swanley, Kent, used to be a student at Hurstmere School, Sidcup. Friends and family were leaving floral tributes in Station Road, Sidcup, yesterday.
Knife crime has blighted London in recent months.
Earlier this month, a man was knifed to death on Oxford Street, one of the busiest shopping areas in the country, and 16-year-old Jimmy Mizen died after his throat was slashed after declining to become involved in a fight with a man in a bakery.
- The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2008 & Reuters
Knife crime
Warning on police power
New police powers to combat knife crime could cause increased antagonism among young people, the Children's Commissionerfor England has warned.
Police officers can now search people for knives and guns without reasonable suspicion they may be carrying a weapon.
Sir Al Aynsley-Green called for further research into the effect of the increased powers.
Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Rose Fitzpatrick said officers' work was not aimed at victimising people, but keeping them safe.
The move comes following a rise in knife crime in the capital. The first team of 15 police officers has already been posted in an unnamed London borough.
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