Bellingham stabbing: family pays tribute to 'kind, beautiful boy' Jai Sewell, 15, stabbed to death 100 yards from home

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A boy aged 15 became the latest victim of London’s violent crime wave last night after he was stabbed to death outside a fast food takeaway 100 yards from his home.

Jai Sewell had gone out to buy a meal when he was followed down the street by two men in a minicab who jumped out and attacked him, according to witnesses.

The schoolboy - the 20th teenager to be murdered in London so far this year - was described by his family today as “lovely, kind beautiful boy” who dreamed of being a cartoonist.

His murder came as Met police commissioner Cressida Dick repeated her pledge to make tackling violence in London her number one focus.

Jai Sewell, 15, was stabbed to death 100 yards from his home
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Jai’s aunt Rochelle, 32, said the boy - who lived nearby with his grandmother - had not been involved with gangs adding: “He said he was going out to get some food and he never came back.”

She said: “He loved riding his mountain bike, was very bright and brilliant at art. He wanted to be a cartoonist.

“He was basically a young boy who played out on his bike and met up with friends. It was a normal day it seemed, but he never came back we are heartbroken.”

Forensics inside the chicken shop collating evidence surrounded by medical paraphernalia (NIGEL HOWARD ©)
NIGEL HOWARD ©

Scotland Yard said police were called reports of a stabbing in Randlesdown Road, Bellingham, at 5.22pm. The boy staggered into Morley’s chicken restaurant where he was given first aid.

He was rushed to hospital with stab wounds but died at 8.15pm.

Forensic officers examine the crime scene in Bellingham after a 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death
Nigel Howard

Thomas Coffie, 23, described desperate efforts by members of the public to save the teenager’s life.

The hospital IT worker said: “I was passing the takeaway and saw him staggering with a wound. There was a slash in his jacket. I took my shirt off to put in the wound. He kept saying “man’s gonna die, man’s gonna die’.

“Then he stopped talking and slumped down I was covered in blood. A nurse who was passing car to help we did our best. It’s terrible.”

Ms Dick described the murder as a “horrible thing to happen to that family, to that community and of course to that poor lad, we must focus on this.”

The killing case marks the 116th murder investigation launched in the capital in 2018 so far, and came 24 hours after 38-year-old Rocky Djelal was stabbed to death by a children’s playground in Southwark.

Police officers at the cordon in Bellingham
Nigel Howard

Ms Dick revealed that 30 teenagers were being stabbed in London each month, a figure she said was down from 40 a month when she took on the role 18 months ago.

She told the Standard she had ordered an escalation in action against Class A drug dealers who she blamed for fuelling much of the violence.

She said: “There is a lot of violence associated with drug markets, it is primarily drug market related, the really serious violence, the homicides and the gang activity.”

“I am asking my officers to get out on the streets more, I am asking them to be in amongst the drug dealers, getting to know who is doing what, trying to arrest them hands on with a weapon and also potentially with drugs.”

In a separate interview on Radio 4’s Today programme today she called for a “common sense, practical” and “old fashioned” approach to policing.

She backed comments by Sara Thornton, chairwoman of the National Police Chiefs Council, who has said forces must focus on catching burglars and violent offenders rather than taking on all “desirable and deserving” issues, such as logging misogyny reports even when no offence has been committed.

Ms Dick said she would not expect her officers to record wolf-whistling as a crime but if someone complained then she would expect her officers to “have a word”.

She agreed this was old fashioned policing saying: “It’s a practical and common sense approach.”

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