Birthday party guests sat on a suspected attacker until police arrived, following the fatal stabbing of a 29-year-old man in north London, a witness has claimed.

The clubhouse manager for Old Edmontonians FC, said the drama unfolded shortly after 8pm on Saturday during a 30th birthday party at the club in Houndsfield Road, Edmonton.

The 60-year-old, who asked not to be named, said a man came running over towards the guests from a nearby playing field and called for help before collapsing on the ground.

The clubhouse manager said: “When I came to the door (of the clubhouse) there was just a group of people around him. The woman from the bouncy castle was giving him chest compressions. The victim must have come over to us because he saw safety in numbers. He was on the floor then I saw him.”

The clubhouse manager said a second man who was not from the party appeared further away from the clubhouse on the football pitch. “He was waving his arms. He was goading them so they (the guests) started getting closer and closer to him. He didn’t run, he just stood still. They somehow got him on the floor and sat on him until police came.”

He said the clubhouse had been booked by a group from Romford for a corporate birthday party that about 70 people attended, including children, and the suspected attacker was restrained by five or six adults from the party. He added that the attack did not happen on the club’s grounds and the two men appeared to come from nearby playing field.



The Metropolitan police said they were called to the incident at 8.10pm and found a man with stab wounds on Houndsfield Road. The victim died at the scene shortly after 9pm. A 40-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident, Scotland Yard said.

Separately, detectives have launched a murder investigation after a man was stabbed to death in Nottingham city centre. The victim, in his 20s, was set upon on Saturday evening. Police believe his attacker was known to him.

The attack happened at about 7.40pm on Union Road. Despite police and ambulance crews arriving within minutes, the man died shortly afterwards, said Nottinghamshire police.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. Family members of the victim were being supported by specially trained officers to come to terms with the “devastating reality” of the killing, said DI Justine Wilson.

People in the city centre were warned to expect disruption to traffic and public transport as a cordon remained in place on the A60 Mansfield Road.