Teenager stabbed to death by stranger at Tube station while protecting girlfriend



A teenager was stabbed to death after trying to protect his girlfriend from a drug-crazed stranger as she celebrated her 18th birthday.

Marcin Bilaszewski, 19, was travelling on a bus with about 25 friends when they started being pestered by the man.

His girlfriend, Anna Betlinska, asked the attacker to leave them alone - but he became angry and started to hit her as the group got off the number 254 bus.



Marcin Bilaszewski, 19, was stabbed to death after trying to protect his girlfriend from a drug-crazed stranger as she celebrated her 18th birthday

Mr Bilaszewski, a Polish construction worker who has been living in Britain for five years, tried to intervene as they alighted at Finsbury Park train station in North London on Saturday night.

But the attacker, black and thought to be in his 30s, pulled out a knife and stabbed him.

The teenager collapsed in a pool of blood as his friends were preparing to take a tube train into the centre of London for a night out.

He was taken to hospital, but doctors were unable to save him.

Mr Bilaszewski is the 11th teenager to be murdered in the capital this year and the eighth in less than seven weeks.

In the aftermath of the killing, Scotland Yard chiefs are expected to hold urgent talks about how best to deal with London's resurgent knife culture.

Marcin, pictured right with a friend, was taken to hospital after being stabbed but doctors were unable to save him

Dagmara Drzymota, 18, a student from Manor House, was also celebrating her 18th birthday and was with Mr Bilaszewski when he was attacked.

'This was supposed to be one of the most special nights of our lives for me and Anna,' she said. 'But then this lunatic who looked like he was high on drugs started pestering us on the bus and he wouldn't leave us alone.

'Anna thought this was not on and tried to reason with him.

'She asked him to leave us alone, but then he followed her and she got hit by him. Marcin tried to protect-her but then this knife came from nowhere and he couldn't get out of the way.

'We were only laughing and joking with him last night and now he's gone. I just can't believe what has happened.'

The group had been travelling on the bus from Stamford Hill where Mr Bilaszewski lived with his father.

Fighting back tears, Miss Drzymota added: 'His girlfriend Anna is in bits. They were so good together. His dad is going to be distraught.'

Fingertip search: Scenes of crime officers examine the street outside Finsbury Park underground station in North London following the attack on the teenager

The teenager collapsed in a pool of blood outside Finsbury Park station. He and his friends were preparing to take a tube train into the centre of London for a night out

Miss Betlinska, an art and design student, had been going out with Mr Bilaszewski for two years.

Forensics officers were conducting a fingertip search near a bus stop outside the station under a railway bridge on Seven Sisters Road.

A local shopkeeper, who asked not to be named, said: 'I got here early this morning and thought at first there had been an accident when I saw all the police and the cordons. I'm shocked to hear there has been a murder.'

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: 'It is believed the victim and a group of friends were travelling on a route 254 bus from Stamford Hill to Finsbury Park underground station.

'It is believed the stabbing took place on a footway outside the station. The suspect, a black male, made off from the scene on foot.'

A record number of 29 teenagers were murdered in the capital in 2008, topping the previous worst toll of 27 in 2007. However, following the launch of a knife crime crackdown codenamed Operation Blunt 2, the number of teenage homicides fell to 14 last year.

Meanwhile, a mother whose teenage son killed a man who attacked her with a knife has lost her fight for life.

Sandra Crawford, 53, was left in a critical condition with multiple wounds following the frenzied attack at her home in St Albans, Hertfordshire, by Jonathan London ten days ago.

She had emergency heart surgery but died at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge surrounded by family, including her son James Killen, 18, on Saturday.

