Stab arrest teenager bailed

2:08pm Sunday 20th July 2008

A 16-year-old arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of an 18-year-old who died just yards from his south London home has been released on bail, police said.

Frederick Moody, known as Freddy, became the 21st teenager to be murdered in the capital this year after he was attacked on Thursday night. A gang of up to eight hooded youths, some of whom may have had bikes, are believed to have lain in wait for him.

A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as a stab wound to the heart. A 16-year-old arrested over the murder was bailed until a date in August pending further inquiries, police said.

Freddy lived in Guildford Road, close to Stockwell Tube Station, with his Ghanaian parents Mary and Kofi and three-year-old sister Tamara.

Among his neighbours in the leafy area is author Will Self. Senior Tory MP Edward Garnier, QC, who represents Harborough, Leicestershire, also lives in the same street as the murder.

Mr Garnier said nowhere in London was immune from violence, but he was shocked to learn a teenager had been stabbed to death so close to his home.

He said: "It is something pretty serious that is going on. Everyone needs to bend their minds on how to tackle it."

Neighbours reported hearing a row in the street and alerted his mother Mary who had been cooking his evening meal at the family's top-floor flat.

Paramedics tried to save him in the street before taking him to St Thomas's Hospital where he died an hour later.

On a Facebook page set up in memory of "Frederick Mischief moody kofi", friends posted dozens of tributes to the youngster.

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