Daily Mail
Mail Online
By Rory Tingle
- Mr Khan was spotted at Gatwick on Saturday before boarding plane to Morocco
- It was just hours after the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Girl Scout Jodie Chesney
- Did you see Mr Khan at Gatwick or in Marrakech? Email rory.tingle@mailonline.co.uk
London mayor Sadiq Khan has jetted off to Marrakech for a holiday with his wife as he continues to face criticism for his slow response to the knife-crime epidemic.
Mr Khan was spotted at Gatwick on Saturday before boarding a plane and sitting down in a window seat in a black cap and jacket.
It was just hours after the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Girl Scout Jodie Chesney, who was knifed to death in the back while listening to music in a park.
The Labour politician was escorted through the Gatwick terminal before he reached the departure gate.
A witness who saw him on the flight to Morocco told The Sun: ‘He sat at the window and kept his cap on during the whole flight.’
The Mayor’s office said: ‘Sadiq is on a short break with his wife and is in touch with the Met Police Commissioner and with City Hall at all times. He is back in the office on Tuesday.’
Susan Hall, a Tory London Assembly member, added: ‘It is shocking but hardly surprising that the mayor is missing in action at a time when London’s crime epidemic rages on.
‘This really does sum up Sadiq Khan’s complacent attitude towards spiralling violent crime rates in our city.’
Ms Chesney was murdered while playing music with her boyfriend, 18-year-old Eddie Coyle, and four other friends in Romford on Friday evening.
Her family have been left stunned at why the teenager, who was a popular member of the local Scout group, would have been so brutally attacked.
Police have said the attacker did not say anything to Jodie or her group of friends, and immediately ran off after the stabbing.
Friends of Ms Chesney have suggested the attack may have been a case of mistaken identity.
Others went online to tell her family that ‘gang members were tasked with murders to gain entry to groups’, or that a gang member may have been ‘dared to stab a random person to show their loyalty’.
Ms Chesney’s grandmother, Debbie, told friends it was ‘a possibility’. She appealed to the attacker or anyone who knows him to contact police.
Scotland Yard have not said what they believe the motive is but detectives are understood to be examining a number of theories.
Ms Chesney’s boyfriend, Mr Coyle, has left an emotional message on a card at the scene, saying: ‘Jodie you are the best thing that could have happened in my life. I will love you always and you will forever be in my heart beautiful.’
Jodie’s mother Claire Gillham also left flowers at the scene of the murder yesterday while her grandmother called for an end to ‘needless violence’.
Ms Chesney’s death came on a weekend of violence around the UK, with 17-year-old Yousef Makki stabbed to death in the village of Hale Barns, near Altrincham in Greater Manchester, the following night.
Mr Khan wrote of his disgust at Ms Chesney’s murder in a tweet sent on Saturday.
‘Enquiries continue into last night’s horrific murder in Havering, and I remain in close contact with the Met Police Commissioner,’ he said.
‘Additional police patrols in and around the Harold Hill area are in place, and I urge anyone with information to contact the Met or Crimestoppers.’
Five people have been arrested after a gang armed with knives entered the grounds of a college and threatened students. Staff at Runshaw College in Leyland, Lancashire, rang police yesterday after they received a report that the group were heading to the college by train from Manchester
Some of the knives, including a meat cleaver, that have been seized by police in just the last week
Girl Scout Jodie Chesney, 17, ‘may have been murdered in a case of mistaken identity’ by teenage killer who knifed her in the back without saying a word as she listened to music in the park
Jodie Chesney, 17, was brutally stabbed to death in a park in Romford last night
ByRoss Ibbetsonand Zoie O’brienand Tim Stickings For Mailonline
The 17-year-old girl scout stabbed to death on Friday was killed in cold blood as two men walked straight up to her and one of them knifed her in the back, police have revealed.
Jodie Chesney was murdered while playing music with her boyfriend, 18-year-old Eddie Coyle, and four other friends in Harold Hill, Romford.
Friends say the shocking killing may have been a case of mistaken identity and Jodie had no connection to any local gangs.
Police have said the killer was a black teenager who had been in the park with another man earlier in the evening, before returning at 9.30pm and stabbing Ms Chesney in the back.
The two suspects then ran off while her heartbroken boyfriend screamed for help and ‘stroked and kissed her face’ as she lay bleeding to death, witnesses have said.
Mr Coyle left an emotional message on a card nearby, saying: ‘Jodie you are the best thing that could have happened in my life. I will love you always and you will forever be in my heart beautiful.’
Jodie’s mother Claire Gillham also left flowers at the scene of the murder today while her grandmother called for an end to ‘needless violence’.
Detectives are appealing for further witnesses but have yet to make any arrests.
A post-mortem at East Ham mortuary today confirmed her cause of death as trauma and haemorrhage, Scotland Yard said.
Claire Gillham, mother of Jodie Chesney (far right) pays her respects at the scene at St Neots Road, Harold Hill where Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death
Tributes: People lay flowers for Jodie Chesney after the 17-year-old Scout Explorer was knifed to death in London
Investigation: Police officers search near the scene of the murder on St Neot’s Road in Harold Hill
The scene of the crime in Romford where Jodie Chesney was knifed to death. Forensic police officers search the park as flowers and lanterns are left nearby
Ms Chesney was an enthusiastic Scout Explorer who had visited Downing Street in November posting on Instagram that it was ‘so much fun’ and ‘I’m basically famous now.’
She was also selected to honour the Chelsea Pensioners at the Royal Albert Hall, appearing in a BBC broadcast last year in front of the Queen and Prince William.
Speaking to ITV News her uncle Dave Chesney said the family was ‘devastated’, adding: ‘This was a totally random and unprovoked attack on a beautiful, lovely and quirky young girl with her whole life in front of her.’
Her grandmother Debbie Chesney said: ‘This was our youngest granddaughter. How have we come to this point where kids can’t have a walk in a park without suffering an unprovoked attack?
‘If anyone knows anything about this please contact the police with information. We don’t want anyone else to go through what our family is suffering right now.
‘This has to stop, there are too many young people having their lives cut short by needless violence.’
Witness Krystle Pasha, who lives close to the scene of the stabbing, told Sky News she heard arguing and shouting before a ‘disturbing’ scream in the moments before the attack.
Another witness, mother-of-three Teresa Farenden, 49, and her friend Kelly Smith, 36, said two men stabbed the teenage girl in front of her boyfriend before fleeing.
Mrs Farenden said: ‘I was trying to do my coat up in the drive and I shouted out ‘is everything okay?’ as I was worried it could be kids drinking. Then a boy said ‘no I need help, my girlfriend has been stabbed’ and I just flew over there in my flip flops.
‘We tried to compress the wound to stop the bleeding but there was just so much. It was like being in a horror movie. When I got there she was breathing but it was very shallow, she was groaning and there was a slight pulse.
‘The boyfriend was holding her and kissing her face. He was whispering and begging her, ‘Please, please stay awake’.
Jodie Chesney, 17, (circled in red) is stood next to Explorer Scouts at the Royal Albert Hall in November 2018. Just months later she would be stabbed to death in a London park
Jodie Chesney was stabbed in the back and lay bleeding to death in a park on Friday night. Her boyfriend comforted her as neighbours of the park ran over to try and save her
Police officers remain at the scene of the killing on Sunday as officers try to track down her attackers – believe to be a group of young men
Flowers describing Jodie as an ‘angel’ were left at the scene near Amy’s Park after Jodie was killed on Friday
The park remains closed off with a blue tent still in place as officers comb the area for clues as to who the attackers were
Just hours before her death Ms Chesney posted an Instagram picture which said: ‘Happy birthday Dad’ and tagged Pete Chesney on his 39th
Friends lay flowers at the scene in Harold Hill, Romford where Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death. Police and forensic teams remain at the scene today
Jodie Chesney with her boyfriend Ed Coyle who comforted her and kissed her face as she lay dying
Mrs Farenden said: ‘The ambulance arrived and I told the 999 call handler. She asked me to stay on the phone until the crew had reached us on the park. And in that moment the girl died.
‘I turned to look at her and my friend, who had come to help, just said, ‘We’ve lost her’.’
Mrs Farenden – whose house faces the park – began CPR but did not realise the blade remained lodged in Jodie’s back. It is believed she was stabbed with such force that the blade snapped, meaning those who tried to help her could not see it.
She added: ‘The knife blade was still in her, but I didn’t see it because it was dark.
‘I didn’t realise at the time, but then all I kept thinking once the police told me was ‘have I put the knife in further by giving her compressions?”
She added: ‘It was horrific, it was just the blood. There must’ve been two pints of blood. There was so much of it.
‘The girl was moaning, but she was mostly silent. We checked her pulse and we could hear her breathing.’
Mrs Farenden went on: ‘People are scared to help, but all I was thinking with my mother’s instinct was I need to help.
‘Her boyfriend did everything he could. When I came over she was on her back so I moved her onto her side.
‘Then the boyfriend’s friend came over with some kitchen roll.
‘Then there was another girl and a man came over in a van to help and took his coat off to keep it on the wound and keep it compressed as much as they could.
‘I think he was the dad of one of the boyfriend’s friends. I was just trying to keep her legs in the recovery position because she was heavy, like a dead weight.
‘Just as the ambulance crew turned up, she had gone. It was devastating. My heart is with the family how something so devastating like that could happen to a young girl.’
Ms Chesney in her girl scouts uniform outside 10 Downing Street, she was described as a ‘bright and lovely’ A-level student who was involved in the Duke of Edinburgh awards scheme
When emergency services arrived, Jodie Chesney (left and right) still had the blade lodged in her back as horrified neighbours rushed to save her life
A message left today at the park said: ‘Jodie, We love you. You are so strong. We will always remember you’
Mourners gathered at the park in Harold Hill on Saturday after she bled to death within an hour of being stabbed on Friday night
A young man arrives to place a bouquet of flowers near the scene of the tragic fatal stabbing – she has been described by other teens from the area as ‘the most happy person’
Police were called to reports of a stabbing in children’s park close to St Neot’s Road in Harold Hill at 9.25pm on Friday, where they found the girl with slash wounds. Pictured: Forensic officers at the scene this morning
Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death in a park as she sat with her boyfriend on Friday night. ‘Disturbing’ screams were heard by neighbours
Sadiq Khan said he was ‘filled with anger’ and ‘devastated’ by the killing of the teenage girl – as murders in the capital soar
Debbie Chesney, Jodie’s grandmother, said: ‘We don’t want anyone else to go through what our family is suffering right now’
Mrs Farenden added: ‘It is so traumatic – she is not going to have any children, she is not going to get married – it has all been taken away.
‘She was such an attractive girl and her boyfriend was a lovely looking lad.
‘It just seems so random; it must’ve been horrific for her boyfriend and those other young people there to experience.
‘It is just unreal – I think God, it could have been my daughter.’
Acting Detective Chief Superintendent John Ross, of the Met’s East Area Command Unit, said: ‘Yesterday a 17-year-old girl lost her life, and I want to express my deepest sympathies to this girl’s family and friends.
‘Her death is a tragedy. I can reassure them and the whole community that we are doing everything possible to identify and bring to justice the person or persons responsible.’
Sadiq Khan said he was ‘filled with anger’ and ‘devastated’ by the killing of the teenager.
In a tweet this morning, the Mayor of London said: ‘Devastated by the fatal stabbing of a 17 year-old girl in Havering.
‘My thoughts are with her loved ones. It fills me with anger that violent criminals are targeting young Londoners with their whole lives before them. I encourage anyone with information to contact the police.’
Chilling documentary footage shows the moment former Met Police chief Lord Bernard Hogan Howe comes face to face with a teenage gang member armed with a knife.
The youngster, 19, tells the ex Scotland Yard boss that he is in possession of the deadly weapon during an interview for an investigation in Britain’s knife crime epidemic.
Wearing a balaclava and giving his name as ‘Jackson’ the teenager, who admits to being part of a gang since he was 12-years-old, tells Lord Hogan Howe that flick knives are the blade of choice among criminals.
Speaking of his life in a gang, he says: ‘We would do whatever to be honest, sell drugs, to make money.
The youngster, 19, (pictured left) tells the ex Scotland Yard boss that he is in possession of the deadly weapon during an interview for an investigation in Britain’s knife crime epidemic
Wearing a balaclava and giving his name as ‘Jackson’ the teenager (left) who admits to being part of a gang since he was 12-years-old, tells Lord Hogan Howe that flick knives are the blade of choice among criminals
‘There was a lot of violence, a lot of it. I’ve got a knife now.
‘I wouldn’t pull it out though. I don’t pull it out. You will never see me pulling it out and showing it off. It’s unnecessary.
‘I only pull it out if I see you coming at me with a knife. I’m going to pull my own out.’
Also interviewed alongside him is a 15-year-old, also wearing a mask to protect his identity, who tells how he has seen victims being stabbed on the street.
Also interviewed alongside him is a 15-year-old, also wearing a mask to protect his identity, who tells how he has seen victims being stabbed on the street. Pictured: Lord Hogan Howe interviewing the two teenagers
Lord Hogan Howe was carrying out an investigation into Britain’s knife crime epidemic for Dispatches on Channel 4
When asked what violence he has witnessed, he replies; ‘Critical damage. That’s all I can say.’
He says he was stabbed in the ‘face, chest, arms legs.’
