UK NEWS
NEW YEAR MAYHEM AS 2 MORE BOYS DIE IN STREET STABBINGS
The emergency services were kept very busy on New Year's Eve
By Martin Stote and John Twomey
THE streets of Britain descended into murderous violence as revellers saw in the New Year.
Sixteen-year-old Bradley Whitfield, pictured below, right, was stabbed near his home in the early hours and left to die in a pool of blood.
The “thoroughly decent young man” was attacked on his father’s 41st birthday just yards from his school in Leicester.
Meanwhile in North London, detectives were hunting the killers of an 18-year-old boy who was chased and stabbed by a gang.
The victim and nine friends had just got off a bus in Edmonton after celebrating in the West End.
Bradley’s parents Anthony and Rachael had just returned from a holiday and were seeing in the New Year at their Leicester home.
Yesterday their neighbour Shane Faulkner said: “Everyone here is stunned.
“Bradley was a lovely lad who would do anything for anyone and was never in any kind of trouble.
“He was just looking forward to the rest of his life. He was a lovely lad who was looking forward to becoming a PE instructor.
“He went to school and loved swimming and rugby, anything to do with sport.”
Family friend Steve Carter said: “I can’t believe it has happened to Bradley. He was a brilliant lad who would always wave and talk to you.” As well-wishers left floral tributes at the scene, another neighbour added: “Bradley was a great kid – well-mannered and from a lovely family.”
Detectives said a 14-year-old boy, a 15-year-old girl, a man and a woman were being questioned in connection with the killing.
And Scotland Yard has appealed for witnesses to the row which left the 18-year-old dead in Edmonton. A spokesman said: “Shortly after he and his friends got off the bus they became involved in an argument with a group of youths who were in the street.”
In Crumpsall, North Manchester, a lone gunman killed one man and wounded two others in a suspected gangland attack as they sat in a car at 5.30pm on New Year’s eve.
A fourth man escaped unharmed after the car was sprayed with bullets.
The men managed to drive to hospital but a 26-year-old died from his wounds. An hour after that shooting, a man was discovered lying in the street in Sale, Greater Manchester, after being shot in the back. He was in a serious condition last night. Police would not say if that drama was linked to the Crumpsall horror.
Also, a 28-year-old man was recovering in hospital after being shot in the stomach on a street in Anfield, Liverpool.
The New Year mayhem also saw a 23-year-old fighting for his life with a knife wound to the throat after a gang brawl at a Manchester petrol station, and a man aged 53 stabbed in Anglesey, North Wales.
Last year, 27 teenagers were killed in London.
The latest deaths come days after statistics revealed that more than four out of five criminals caught with a knife have been spared prison.
Figures for 2006 showed that just one of the 6,232 people convicted of having a blade in public received the maximum two-year sentence.
Video 
