Zahir Visiter was found on an estate in nearby St John’s Wood after being stabbed

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Police have identified the 25-year-old victim of a fatal stabbing in central London, after armed police sealed off a mosque as they hunted for suspects.

Zahir Visiter, of Westminster, was stabbed beside the canal in Regent’s Park on Thursday night but was found on an estate in nearby St John’s Wood. Visiter, who was originally from Chechnya, was treated at the scene but later died in hospital.

His attackers fled the scene and were observed entering the London Central mosque, by Regent’s Park, prompting armed police to surround and search the building. The suspects are believed to have mingled with worshippers at evening prayers and to have escaped as they left the building.

Quick guide Knife crime in the UK Show Hide What is the scale of the problem? Police chiefs have described the recent spate of knife crime as ‘a national emergency’. In the first two months of 2019 there were 17 homicides in London alone, where 35% of all knife crimes are committed. The number of NHS England admissions among people aged 10-19 with knife wounds has risen 60% in five years, surpassing 1,000 last year. The number of knife and offensive weapon offences in England and Wales have risen to their highest level for nearly a decade, with the number of cases dealt with by the criminal justice system up by more than a third since 2015. Knife crime-related offences recorded by the police rose by 8% in England and Wales in 2018. Figures on sentences handed out for such crimes, published by the Ministry of Justice, showed there were 22,041 knife and weapon offences formally dealt with by the criminal justice system in the year ending March 2019. This is the highest rate since 2010, when the number was 23,667.

What happens to people caught with knives? In the year ending March 2019, 37% of knife and offensive weapon offences resulted in an immediate custodial sentence, compared with 22% in 2009, when the data was first published. The average length of the custodial sentences rose to the longest in a decade, from 5.5 months to 8.1 months. Are younger people more at risk of being involved in knife crime? The MoJ figures revealed that the number of juvenile offenders convicted or cautioned for possession or threats using a knife or offensive weapon increased by almost half (48%) between the year ending March 2015 and the year ending March 2019. The increase in adult offenders over the same period was smaller, at 31%. However, adult offenders still accounted for 74% of the total increase in cautions and convictions received for those offences in that period. What are the government doing about knife crime? In March 2019 chancellor, Philip Hammond, handed an extra £100m to police forces in England and Wales after a spate of fatal stabbings led to a renewed focus on rising knife crime and police resources. In the same month more than 10,000 knives were seized and 1,372 suspects arrested during a week-long national knife crime crackdown. Officers carried out 3,771 weapons searches, during which 342 knives were found. Another 10,215 were handed in as part of amnesties.

A new Offensive Weapons Act was passed in May 2019, making it illegal to possess dangerous weapons including knuckledusters, zombie knives and death star knives. It also made it a criminal offence to dispatch bladed products sold online without verifying the buyer is over 18.

DCI Garry Moncrieff asked for anyone with information to contact police.

“A number of people were in the area around the time that this happened. We need anyone who saw what happened or was present in the aftermath to get in touch. Anyone with mobile phone or dashcam footage before or after the attack is also requested to contact police.

“My team are busy working around the clock to trace and apprehend those involved and bring them in for questioning. A review of local CCTV footage, forensic analysis at the scene and searches in and around the scene continue.

“Understandably, those in the local area will be alarmed and concerned about this brutal attack. Extra police will be in the area and on hand to speak to the public about any concerns they may have.”

The incident was the 21st fatal stabbing in the capital in 2019, but less than 24 hours later a man was killed in Clapham Common in south-west London in a knife ambush.