Britain: Nigerian teens attacked by black knife gang

This is London:

Britain's knife gang epidemic has claimed two new victims after a boy of 14 was killed and his 15-year-old friend was left fighting for life last night.

Paul Erhahon, nicknamed Hell Reiser, is the sixth boy under 16 to be murdered on London's streets in eight weeks.

The "gentle giant" tried to run home after being knifed in the chest by a rival gang, but collapsed near his front door.

His distraught parents tried in vain to save him. Police have arrested a 13-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man in connection with the killing.

Last night campaigners called for police "stop and search" powers to be used far more widely.

Norman Brennan, of the Victims Of Crime Trust, said: "Stop and search must be done en masse and supported by all communities who surely are sick and tired of living in fear of knife and gun attacks."

Paul, a talented hip-hop musician whose family is from Nigeria, was attacked with his friend, nicknamed Decoy, by up to 15 teenagers in the foyer of flats in Leytonstone, East London, on Friday evening.

The boys, from a hip-hop group called Funeral Soldiers, managed to flee after being stabbed, but Paul was pronounced dead at hospital while Decoy, also from a Nigerian family, was being treated for serious injuries.

Neighbour Adefolahan Oshinloye, 14, said: "I saw Paul. He was trying to get home but collapsed on the pavement.

"They had been chased through the flats and I heard Paul had been stabbed six times and Decoy twice. People came running out. Some were applying pressure to his wounds.

"Paul's parents were both there; his mum was distraught, she was crying and screaming and his dad was trying to help."

Neighbour Matthew Ewusie, who gave Paul private tutoring, added: "He was bleeding from the side of his stomach.

"His mother Ivie was hysterical, screaming her son's name, saying, 'Junior, oh my God, Junior.' I'll never forget that sound. The boy was their only son."

Like the family of Damilola Taylor, Ivie and husband Paul Senior, who have two daughters, moved to Britain for a better life. Damilola, ten, was stabbed to death in Peckham, South-East London, in 2000.

Last night a youth claimed he had warned Paul he would be knifed by the Cathall gang, named after a neighbouring area.

He said: "I told him that they were coming for him. He just thought it was a joke."

Local residents said groups of young boys often congregate with Staffordshire bull terriers and Rottweilers on leads. One said: "You see groups of black boys in hooded tops carrying baseball bats and walking around looking for trouble."

Paul was at the same school as 15-year-old Adam Regis, nephew of Olympic sprinter John Regis, who died last month after being stabbed on his way home from the cinema.

Since February 3, four other boys have died after being shot or stabbed in London: James Smartt-Ford, 16; Michael Dosunmu, 15; Billy Cox, 15; and Kodjo Yenga, 16.

Paul's friends said the killing was part of a turf war, with gangs in Paul's Thatched House area of E15 clashing with youths from the Cathall area of E11.

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