Joshua Folkes Pic: the Metropolitan Police
Another suspect has been arrested in relation to the stabbing of 17-year-old college student Joshua Folkes of Hackney. Two other teenagers have already been charged with murder.
Detectives from the Homicide and Major Crime Command of the Metropolitan Police arrested the, believed to be 18-year-old, at a north London address today on suspicion of murder. He is the fourth person arrested over the past week, in relation to the death of Folkes. Kreshnik Etemi, 18, of Muswell Hill, was charged with murder on Saturday and faced Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court yesterday. He remains in custody.
Another 17-year-old from Clerkenwell has also been accused of murder and is due to face court.
A 15-year-old girl arrested in Enfield on Wednesday has since been released on bail, pending continuing inquiries. Police were called to Bowes Road in Palmers Green in the early hours of December 3, following reports of a male collapsing from stab wounds in the street. Attending ambulance crew pronounced Folkes dead at the scene at around 1.25am. He died from a knife wound to the chest.
A 21-year-old witness and friend of Folkes, known as ‘Money J’ to associates and an aspiring rapper, told the London Evening Standard: “I heard screaming and looked out my window. Money J was lying outside the house. Someone was shouting at him ‘Get up Money J, get up!’ over and over again. Paramedics then worked on him and opened up his chest but it looked like a lost cause. I am devastated.”
As Folkes’ friends commemorated his memory by laying flowers at the murder scene, police continued to appeal for information about the incident. Detective Chief Inspector Nicola Wall, leading the investigation, said: “His death has left [his family] devastated. We are appealing to Josh’s friends and the community to come forward and help us find his killers.”
Anyone with information which may assist the investigation of Folkes’ death should contact the Met’s incident room on 020 8785 8244 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
The arrests for Folkes’ murder come at the same time as two Hackney residents were arrested over the fatal stabbing of Antonio Rodney-Cole from Dalston last week.
