People at scene say they believe man was killed after Finsbury Park altercation

This article is more than 8 months old

This article is more than 8 months old

A man believed to be food delivery moped driver was stabbed to death in north London on Friday.

The Metropolitan police launched the capital’s first murder investigation of 2020 after being called to Charteris Road in Finsbury Park at about 6.50pm to reports of a stabbing. The victim was treated by paramedics, but was pronounced dead at the scene just under an hour later.

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, visited the scene on Saturday and called for more protection for delivery drivers .

Corbyn, who is MP for Islington North, said: “Delivery drivers do a great job in London all of the time. Yet they are vulnerable.

“They’re often on zero-hours contracts, yet the food they are carrying is insured. So the delivery driver is less valuable than the food they are carrying.

“I am totally shocked. This is a very close-knit community, and this is yet another stabbing on the streets of London.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jeremy Corbyn speaking with Deliveroo rider Zakaria Gherabi, aged 37, at the scene of the fatal stabbing. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Inquiries into the incident, which occurred close to the junction with Lennox Road, are continuing, and a police cordon remains in place as forensics team work at the scene. Police have not made any arrests in connection with the death.

According to friends at the scene, the victim was a 30-year-old UberEats and Deliveroo delivery moped driver from Algeria.

The group, who are also delivery drivers, said the stabbing occurred after an altercation with a car driver.

The delivery drivers condemned the lack of safety and support afforded to them by their employers and police.

One said he felt unsafe “100%” of the time. Another said: “I was attacked here by people with a big machete and now this man has been killed for no reason. The police do nothing. They just come, take a statement and then they go.”

Friends paid tribute to the victim. “He was a good man,” one said. “He doesn’t make any trouble. He works and he goes home and he ends up being killed while he’s working. The country is getting worse.”

Richard Watts, the leader of Islington council, tweeted that he was “horrified to hear about this appalling crime”.

“What an awful start to the new year,” he added.

The stabbing came after the Met on Friday announced new measures to tackle violent crime, including a greater presence of uniformed officers in crime hotspots.

Last year, the force recorded 149 homicides in the capital before 30 December – up more than 50% in the past five years. The figure marks a 10-year high for London murder cases.

The number of stabbings has risen significantly in recent years, with knife crime responsible for 90 of last year’s murder cases, compared with 55 in 2014.