Peter Chesney says those who carry knives ‘are going to ruin their lives, and others’ lives’

The father of murdered 17-year-old Jodie Chesney has pleaded for justice for his daughter and urged people who carry knives to think before ruining people’s lives.

Jodie was with friends in a park in Romford, east London, on Friday evening when she was stabbed in the back in a seemingly motiveless attack.

Describing his daughter as a “proud geek”, Peter Chesney told the Press Association: “We don’t know how to deal with it. Everyone is suffering because she was so good ... everyone just can’t believe – why her? It is not one life deserves to be killed over another, but specifically her, she was so kind.”

A man was arrested in Leicester on Wednesday night in connection with her murder but no charges have been brought. Police said an application to extend his detention has been granted by magistrates. Senior investigating officer DCI Dave Whellams appealed for anyone with information to contact police. He said: “The 20-year-old arrested is a white male and continues to assist us with our inquiries.” It was initially thought two men were involved but now police think there may have been up to four people.

Jodie’s father said the attack was unprovoked, and that the person who carried out the attack was “horrendous”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jodie Chesney’s father Peter and stepmother Joanne. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

He said: “Someone knows who did this ... We need for Jodie to have justice. No one thinks this is OK. Surely nobody who knows the guy who did this thinks it is OK.

“You can’t get kudos for stabbing a 17-year-old in the back. So just dob them in, grass them up, this is not alright.

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“It was obviously a murder as well, it wasn’t an accident ... it was so ferocious, the attack. She lost so much blood. This was on purpose; someone meant to murder her.”

Jodie was pronounced dead just over an hour after officers were called to the park at around 9.25pm. Her death, along with that of Yousef Ghaleb Makki, also 17, in Trafford, Greater Manchester, brought a renewed focus on the problem of knife crime.

Jodie’s stepmother, Joanne, said: “Even now it is still going on days later, the next day someone was killed. And then a few days after that another person. Tomorrow someone else probably.

“When, where do you stop? How many more families are going to have to sit here and go through this?”

Jodie’s father, wearing a purple ribbon made for him by her friends (it was her favourite colour), said: “I don’t know when this happened, when [it] was OK to carry knives and use them. It wasn’t like that when I was at school …

“The message is, just think about what you are going to do with your life. If you are going to carry a knife and if you’re going use a knife, you are going to ruin your life, and others – and why?”