West Croydon stabbing leaves teen covered in blood

Two people have been arrested after a teenage boy became yet another Croydon stab victim.

The victim, aged around 17, was left covered in blood after being slashed across the head with a knife in West Croydon.

Monday afternoon's attack came about after an argument between a group of youths at a bus stop in London Road.

A police spokeswoman said there was then another argument between the same group in Handcroft Road which turned violent.

The scene was cordoned off for around an hour and the victim was taken to a south London hospital to be treated for his injuries.

Mehboob Khan, owner of Dallas Chicken and Ribs near where the altercation started, said: “I saw the boy bleeding from the head.

“I saw around three other boys running away when I went out.

“I think they might be the same boys who broke the window off my shop three weeks ago.

“We are scared of them and the customers are also scared.”

The manager of another nearby shop said the violence occurred against a backdrop of on-going anti-social behaviour in the area blamed by locals on notorious gang – the Jaffna Boys.

He said incidents like this were “a daily occurrence”.

“He was quite badly injured,” he said. “The whole road was covered in his blood.

“It happens every night here. It's nothing new. We really don't know why the police don't take any action. There's a lot of intimidation.”

The manager, who was too scared to be named, said he had even heard of some shopkeepers paying protection money to the gang – sometimes giving away alcohol instead of cash.

“We're fed up,” he said. “Maybe the police are waiting for some big incident to happen, then they will take action.”

In a worrying sign of the times the stabbed boy did not even seek medical treatment.

A spokeswoman for the London Ambulance Service said: “We got called to an assault on London Road but it was cancelled so we didn't attend.”

A 20-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy have been arrested in connection with the attack.

As the Advertiser went to press they remained in custody at a south London police station.