Singer who was stabbed at Notting Hill carnival: 'we can't let a crazed minority ruin it'

Singer Jo Jordan was stabbed at the Notting Hill carnival

A singer who feared for his life after being stabbed at Notting Hill carnival today rejected calls to clamp down on the street party, saying: “We can’t let a crazed minority ruin it for everyone.”

R&B singer Jo Jordan, 22, was slashed by thugs who ripped a £4,000 Rolex watch from his wrist in Ladbroke Grove during last Monday’s street parade.

As he tried to grab it back he was stabbed, with the blade severing an artery just above his left hand.

He ran through the crowds, bleeding and starting to lose consciousness, before finding two police officers who gave him first aid at the roadside as families and children watched in horror.

Mr Jordan, who was born in Wembley and released his debut EP just days before the attack, was rushed to hospital where he was given emergency plastic surgery.

Thugs stabbed him and ripped a £4,000 Rolex watch from his wrist

He now faces months of physiotherapy to get the movement back in his hand and has had to cancel a series of promotional concerts.

But despite his ordeal, he said he did not back calls to move the event to a park where crowds can be controlled and searched for knives before being admitted.

He said: “I’ve been to carnival for the past five years with my mates and I’ve never been involved in any violence before.

“But the were kids right next to me, I was surrounded. I tried to grab the watch back but one stabbed me in the wrist.

“I didn’t care about the watch after that. I was bleeding out and started running away as fast as I could whilst pressing down on the wound. I found a policeman and shouted to him ‘I’ve been stabbed’.

“He laid me down and put me in the recovery position and was saying ‘stay with me’. That’s when I started freaking out thinking I might die there.

“But an amazing policewoman wrapped my arm up tight and waited with me for paramedics to arrive. If I hadn’t found them I would be dead.

Notting Hill Carnival 2016 - In pictures

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“I had just been celebrating my first ever EP launch, it should have been the best week of my life.”

But he added: “There’s still a mass of people who go to carnival for the right reasons to have fun and celebrate its rich history.

“We can’t let a crazed minority ruin it for everyone. The local community look forward to it all year and to make them suffer by taking it away would be unfair.”

His manager Jay Singh said: “Jo is an innocent, humble kid who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was there as a bystander but sadly came across these people who are hungry for violence.

“He should have been celebrating the release of his debut record but has ended up battling for his life in hospital- it’s just mad.

“The most important thing is he recovers and gets his health back before he gets back to doing what he loves - performing.”

A Met spokesman said two people aged 26 and 29 had been arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm and released on bail pending further inquiries.

Scotland Yard made 454 arrests across the two days of the Bank Holiday street party including 45 attacks on police and 88 knife-related incidents.

Metropolitan Police Federation chairman Ken Marsh claimed that rank-and-file officers “dread” the event, the biggest of its kind in Europe, in which they are treated as “professional punchbags”.

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