Young teenager attacked in Lewisham stabbing

Police cordon off Lewisham High Street, Pic: Dan Brown

A young teenage boy was attacked on Lewisham High Street on his way to school at 8:38am on Monday morning. Police and ambulance services arrived soon afterwards to help the victim. The identity of the boy has been kept confidential for legal reasons, but his next of kin have been informed, police say.

The victim was taken to hospital, confirmed on the Met Police Twitter feed in a statement which said: “The victim of the stabbing this morning in Lewisham High St was taken to hospital, where his condition was assessed as ‘not life-threatening or life-changing’.” Investigations are underway.

Less than an hour after the incident a Lewisham market stall holder spoke to EastLondonLines exclusively and claimed to have been present with the boy just after the stabbing happened. He preferred to remain anonymous but said that he “waited with the lad until the ambulance came”.

Weapon-related crimes have dramatically increased over the past few years in the capital, with incidents involving knives amongst the most frequent. A 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death outside a takeaway in Bellingham back in November. The attack was apparently unprovoked and CCTV footage released showed the assailant chase several people away before he stabbed the young teen. 

British Transport Police activated section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (1994), giving them the right to stop and search any member of the public within 200m of Lewisham train station. When ELL reporters spoke to local people at the time, most interviewees were strongly against the police action. Last summer London Mayor Sadiq Khan also reacted to the sudden spike in the city’s knife crime by starting a campaign to raise awareness, using the hashtag #LondonNeedsYouAlive. He estimated it could take up to a decade to solve the knife crime problem.

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