18-yr-old Nigerian boy stabbed to death in London

A teenager stabbed to death in north-east London on Wednesday night has been named as Israel Ogunsola. His death, together with the death of a man in his 50s, takes the capital’s suspected murder toll to more than 50 in just three months.

Ogunsola died in the shadow of a railway bridge on Link Street at the junction with Morning Lane in Hackney at 8.24pm, about half an hour after being stabbed.

Ogunsola had been charged with ABH, dangerous driving without a licence, having no insurance and being in possession of cannabis after an incident in Stevenage in November that left a police officer with a head injury. .

A friend of the teenager said that he had been a student at the University of Hertfordshire – which is based in Stevenage – but had recently returned home to live with his parents.

It has emerged he was Facebook friends with another teenage victim of violent crime in London. Tanesha Melbourne, 17, was shot in a drive-by shooting on Monday in Tottenham.

Just 30 minutes later, 16-year-old Amaan Shakoor was shot in the face in Walthamstow. A spate of knife and gun deaths has prompted fears London’s murder rate for 2018 will surge above that for last year.