Third murder inquiry in three days, after attacks on student outside Clapham South tube and teenager in Bellingham

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Police have launched a murder investigation following the fatal stabbing on Sunday of a man in south-east London, days after two teenage boys died from stab wounds in the capital.

Officers responded to a reported stabbing in Anerley, in the London borough of Bromley, shortly after midday on Sunday. Air ambulance paramedics attended but the man, believed to be 22 years old, died at the scene.

Two men, aged 19 and 21, were arrested on suspicion of murder, and the Metropolitan police said they were making enquiries to establish the victim’s identity and inform his next of kin. Cordons were in place at the scene on Samos Road.

Earlier on Sunday, a teenager who died after being stabbed outside a tube station on Friday was named as Malcolm Mide-Madariola, 17, from Peckham, south-east London, police said.

The student was attacked at about 4.30pm on Balham Hill outside Clapham South station, London, and died in hospital.

The death followed that of Jay Hughes, 15, who was fatally stabbed in a “premeditated attack” near a chicken shop in Randlesdown Road, Bellingham, south-east London, at about 5.20pm on Thursday.

DCI John Massey, of the homicide and major crime command, said Mide-Madariola was stabbed a few minutes after an altercation between two groups of boys. “We are confident that our investigation will lead us to the person or people responsible, but we do need to speak with more witnesses and I am appealing for anyone with information to come forward.”

Flowers were laid near the south-west London station for Mide-Madariola. A 17-year-old girl, who asked not to be named, described him as a hard-working boy, adding: “He was sweet and nice and he always used to message me if he knew I was sad.”

Hughes’s family paid tribute to him, saying he was “very bright and brilliant at art”.

London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, said the two deaths on Thursday and Friday were a terrible waste of young lives, as he offered condolences to the families.

The three fatalities came as debate continued over the effect of police budget cuts and how officers should focus their resources. The Met police commissioner, Cressida Dick, said on Friday that “stretched” forces had to prioritise serious violence and drug gangs rather than non-criminal acts, such as misogyny.

Khan has previously blamed rising violence on the £700m cuts to the Met’s budget over seven years, which could be followed by further reductions. On Friday, he announced the latest measure in a “public health approach” to tackling violence, with a review of the most serious offences since 2014 to discover the trends behind attacks.