
A plumber who was first on the scene of one of the North London stabbings has described how he 'saw blood pouring out of the back' of one of the four victims, who shouted: 'Why has this happened to me?'

Roger Blackman rushed to help a man who was knifed on the street on Sunday morning in the fourth act of violence in a 14-hour rampage in Edmonton, London.

Police said a lone attacker had carried out the four attacks on Saturday night and Sunday morning, apparently targeting 'random' victims who were 'alone and vulnerable' and leaving one of them, a 45-year-old woman, fighting for her life.

Detectives have made two arrests but the attacker, described as a tall, skinny black man wearing a hood, may still be at large.

Police promised 'enhanced and dedicated police activity around the clock' to keep the area safe but have warned the public to be vigilant.

Crime scene: Plumber Roger Blackman (pictured right) helps police officers at the scene of the fourth London stabbing

Police have warned the public to be on their guard following the stabbings in Edmonton from Saturday night into Sunday morning. Pictured: Emergency services attend to the Brettenham Road stab victim

Police on the scene near Fore Street, Edmonton, London, near where a person was stabbed just a short distance from where a middle aged woman was knifed

Police are now hunting for the knifeman after four people were stabbed in random attacks during a 12-hour north London rampage

Mr Blackman, 46, was first on the scene to one of the stabbings and saw the attacker run off, leaving the victim with blood pouring from a wound.

Timeline of stabbings Saturday March 30 7.02pm: A woman, aged 45, is left in a 'critical condition' after she is knifed in the back on Aberdeen Road. Sunday March 31 00.15am: A man is stabbed in Park Avenue and rushed to hospital with non-life threatening wounds. 3.55am: A 23-year-old man is stabbed at Silver Street, Edmonton, before being found at Seven Sisters tube station. 9.43am: A man is knifed in the back on Brettenham Road in another 'bloodbath attack'. Advertisement

Speaking to MailOnline last night, he said: 'I heard a scream, I looked to my right, I saw a guy run off, then another scream. I saw blood pouring out of the back of him, I went to my van to get some towels to stem the flow.

'I saw the guy turn around and run off, he was literally about 10-15 feet away from where I was. I was in the back of my van so I'm always aware of what's going on around me.

'The victim was screaming, oh my God, oh my God, why has this happened to me. There was blood pouring out of his gash. It was a great big gash, about a three-inch wound.

'I was visiting my mum for mother's day. You hear about it in the papers and now it's happened in front of your mother's house. It does make you wonder, it makes you think about going out.'

The first stabbing left a 45-year-old woman in 'critical condition' after she was knifed in the back on Aberdeen Road in Britain's capital, just after 7pm on Saturday evening.

Just hours later, a man was stabbed shortly after midnight in Park Avenue and was rushed to hospital with non-life threatening wounds.

A 23-year-old man was then stabbed at Silver Street, Edmonton, before being found at around 3.55am at Seven Sisters tube station and remains in a stable condition.

Police are investigating four stabbings in Edmonton, London, as the capital continues to struggle under a knife crime epidemic

Forensic teams collect evidence at the scene of a stabbing in Edmonton, north London, after four people were stabbed

Forensic investigators collect evidence from the scene of a stabbing in Edmonton after a spate of attacks

A map showing the latest spate of stabbings in the UK including the four in North London over the weekend

In the fourth attack unidentified man was knifed in the back on Sunday morning just a quarter of a mile from where the woman was stabbed, in the attack witnessed by Mr Blackman. Witnesses said he had been speaking on his phone in Bengali before the stabbing.

The victim was taken to hospital with potentially life-changing injuries following the attack on Brettenham Road at around 9.43am.

Later on Sunday morning a man was arrested on Fore Street while a second suspect, a man in his 40s, was taken into custody at a home in Edmonton this evening. Both are in custody on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.

Police have said there is nothing to suggest a terror link but have urged the public to be 'vigilant' and 'beware of your surroundings'.

The attacks have left Londoners fearful with the knife attacker possibly still on the loose. Natasha Cameron, 45, lives on Aberdeen Road and was walking home from work at a nearby casino after 10pm when she was informed about the stabbing near her house.

She said: 'I was like 'oh my God this is the road I live on.' I'm scared now because I always walk here from work home. Now I'm definitely taking the bus'.

Another local resident, Nichola Dennigan, said: 'It is scary at the moment all these stabbings in Edmonton where I live.'

Police on the scene in Aberdeen Road, Edmonton, where a middle aged woman was stabbed in the back

Police on the scene near Moree Way, Edmonton. A man was stabbed shortly after midnight in Park Avenue

He was rushed to hospital with non-life threatening wounds. Pictured: Police on the scene near Moree Way

Police are treating the four stabbings as potentially linked but say the victims appear to have been selected at random due to them being 'alone and vulnerable'.

Detectives are appealing for information and urging the public to stay vigilant following the series of stabbings in the Edmonton area.

A 50-year-old hospital worker and PhD graduate who dialled 999 following the Brettenham Road attack said he was in his kitchen at 9.30am when he heard somebody shouting 'oh my God'.

The resident said: 'The sound was moving around the front of the estate from the back and I called 999. When I came out, his attacker was gone and I heard the man speaking on the phone saying 'why didn't you come yet?'

'I saw when police cut his clothes off his back. There was blood all around him, it was like a bloodbath.

The stabbings come after the 31st murder in London so far this year on Friday - and the 14th in March

Detectives are appealing for information and urging the public to stay vigilant following the series of stabbings in the Edmonton area. Pictured: Police on the scene near Fore Street, Edmonton

Forensic teams work at the scene of the stabbing in Edmonton, London, on Sunday following a spate of knife attacks

Police officers at work in Edmonton. A Turkish woman, who lives on the Edmonton estate where the last of four victims was stabbed, was faced with a crime scene when she stepped out onto her balcony this morning

'It was horrifying. My son was inside, he is only 15 and he has been left traumatised. He said in that moment 'dad please can we leave this place'.

'I came out onto the main road and he was on the floor face down and then within a minute, the police arrived. They were excellent. The ambulance came four or five minutes later.'

A local cafe owner, 50, who checked his CCTV to see one of the victims limping down Park Avenue said: 'It has all gone crazy. Last night there was a guy walking down here with a limp followed by a couple of others.'

A Turkish woman, who lives on the Edmonton estate where the last of the four victims was stabbed, was faced with a crime scene when she stepped out onto her balcony this morning.

She said: 'My balcony looks down onto the spot where the man was lying on the ground. I heard screaming outside and stood on the balcony - there were people running around.

'There were so many sirens and police everywhere. Then I saw a body on the floor surrounded by police.'

Police and forensic teams conduct investigations at the scene of a stabbing in Edmonton on March 31

The 45-year-old woman was stabbed once by her attacker who remains on the run. Pictured: Aberdeen Road

One police officer wearing protective equipment gestures next to a line of tape while another holds a pad in Edmonton

Police are treating the four stabbings as potentially linked but say the victims appear to have been selected at random due to them being 'alone and vulnerable'. Pictured: Police on the scene near Fore Street, Edmonton

Police at the scene collecting evidence. Dozens of officers, riot vans and a police helicopter rushed to the scene in Edmonton, north London, at 9.35am this morning

Dozens of officers, riot vans and a police helicopter rushed to the scene in Edmonton, north London, at 9.35am this morning.

One resident said the estate is known for having gangs of between 15 and 20 men 'hanging around in the car park day and night.'

A 36-year-old shop worker, was working when the attack took place, said: 'I was serving a customer and I heard screaming. Then when I went out and stood in the shop doorway there were a lot of people crowding around the man on the floor.

'I heard he ran through the flats. Then there was another attack in the street next door but I didn't see the man with the knife.'

Student nurse Nawel Yusef, said it was 'heartbreaking' to find the high street covered in police tape when she arrived to do her shopping this morning.

Blood stains the pavement at the scene of a stabbing in Edmonton, London, as a manhunt begins for a hooded knifeman

Police remain in the area after a woman was stabbed in the back. She remains in critical condition

The 26-year-old, from Bow in east London, said her brother Zakaria Sharif Ali was stabbed to death in November in nearby Shoreditch.

She said: 'It was heartbreaking to see the police cordons and the blood on the street this morning.

'It is ridiculous and what happened here is all linked. I heard the attack on Park Avenue last night was the same guy who stabbed the man this morning.

'Back in the day, people fought with fists not knives. These people are taking lives and using knives like it doesn't matter.

'You carry a knife and either you are going to use it or somebody is going to use it on you so there is no winner.'

Cengiz Topal was woken by the cries coming from outside his Edmonton flat in north London and rushed outside.

He said: 'I was asleep and I just heard somebody shouting 'help, help' and I saw him on the floor. He must've walked through the middle of the estate to the main road where he collapsed.

'I went outside and I could tell he had been stabbed. I was trying to help him but there were other people there and the police arrived almost immediately. He was a young man, a poor young man. It's so terrible.

Blood can be seen on the pavement after the stabbing of a man in Edmonton

A police officer and police dog on Aberdeen Road in north London, after four stabbings between Saturday evening and Sunday morning

'I just stood there watching the police cut off his clothes while he was lying there still with his eyes closed. I don't even know if he is alive.

'I always see big groups of kids smoking drugs and causing problems here - they turn up in groups of 30 or 40 several times per month. I'm an old man but I saw to them 'careful kids' or 'be good young man.'

'Sometimes I come out to find my tyres have been slashed and they are flat. There are problems every weekend, Bulgarians, black men and teenage boys and girls.'

A neighbouring resident said he heard shouts and screams coming from the estate an hour-and-a-half before police arrived.

He said: 'I was lying in bed at 8am and I heard shouting coming from outside. I didn't know what was going on and then later on I heard someone shouting 'help'.

'I think there must have been an argument or a bit of a fight before the man got stabbed. I looked out of my balcony and saw the guy lying on the street and police cars everywhere.'

Dervish Husseyin, 60, was at his friend's house on Aberdeen Road when the stabbing took place and said: 'I [saw] the woman lying down, face down', adding: 'She said they had beaten her up'.

Police and sniffer dogs in Edmonton following the four stabbings this weekend. A woman is still in critical condition

Police forensics officers on Aberdeen Road in north London. The four stabbings are being treated as potentially linked by police

Mr Husseyin said the woman had 'blood on her back' but did not seem to realise she had been stabbed.

'She said she only went out for a walk on her own,' he said. He added that the woman who was stabbed lives locally and English is not her first language.

The rampage of stabbings follows the announcement that Home Secretary Sajid Javid is set to launch a 'Stop and Search blitz' to put a stop to Britain's knife crime.

It will let police in seven regions carry out Stop and Search checks without needing to prove 'reasonable grounds'.

DCI Stuart Smillie from North Area Command said: 'The four victims are all from different backgrounds and appear to have been selected at random due to them being alone and vulnerable. There is nothing to suggest this incident is terror related.

'We are working on the hypothesis that the single male suspect is acting alone and mental health issues may be a factor.

Sajid Javid to launch 'Stop and Search blitz' to end Britain's knife crime wave by ripping up reforms brought in by Theresa May five years ago Home Secretary Sajid Javid is set to launch a 'Stop and Search blitz' to put a stop to Britain's knife crime. The new scheme will tear down old reforms made by Theresa May when she was home secretary five years ago and will let police in seven regions carry out Stop and Search checks without needing to prove 'reasonable grounds'. London and South Yorkshire police forces are expected to be among those given more power under the new 'pilot scheme', which is expected to be pushed for six months. Mr Javid is also expected to reveal a new 'Prevent-style' public health system that will see councils, schools and agencies be required to report any child that they think is at risk of getting involved in knife crime. Mr Javid's Stop and Search blitz mirrors a similar initiative launched in Glasgow in the mid-2000s which saw deaths from stabbings halved in a decade. Theresa May made stricter rules to the Stop and Search policy in 2014 which saw police forces having to prove they had reasonable grounds before carrying out a search. Since 2014, knife crime has skyrocketed to the highest level in a decade. Mr Javid demanded that Ms May relax her rules at a Cabinet meeting earlier this month after 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death in a park in Romford. Advertisement

A police officer stands guard by the cordon at the scene of the stabbing in London yesterday

A woman in her 40s is in a 'critical condition' in hospital after she was stabbed in the back by a six-foot man on a north London street

A police officer stands near Fore Street, Edmonton, London, after a spate of stabbings in the capital

'All of the people he has targeted have been walking alone and he has approached from behind without warning.'

He added: 'Members of the public who have information about this suspect or have spotted someone acting suspiciously who matches his description are advised to call police on 999 and not to approach the man.

'His description has been circulated to all officers in North Area who are carrying out patrols, CCTV footage enquiries and policing busy areas around where the incidents took place, particularly where he was last seen where police arrived four minutes after the call to police was made.'

The detective continued: 'My advice to the public in the area where these incidents took place stay vigilant, be aware of your surroundings and call 999 if you see anyone matching the suspects description behaving suspiciously.'

Pictured: The crime scene on Aberdeen Road in Edmonton, north London, where a woman was stabbed in the back after 7pm

Pictured: Silver Street in Edmonton, London, where a 23-year-old man was stabbed before being found at around 3.55am