The family of a teenager stabbed to death hours after distributing food to the homeless today welcomed a Met police pledge to increase the use of stop and search.
Jacob Abraham was attacked near the M25 at Waltham Cross on December 7, 10 days before his 16th birthday. The keen boxer, who trained three times a week and attended church with his mother, had enrolled on an accounting and business course.
On the night he was killed, Jacob was on his way to training after spending the day helping her prepare sandwiches and offering them to local homeless people.
Speaking for the first time on the tragedy, his mother Sheila Abraham said she had lost her “best friend and right-hand man”.
His older brother Isaac, 19, said knife crime had spiralled out of control. He added: “Since stop and search decreased because of people saying it became racial profiling, criminals have become more confident about the fact that the police won’t stop them.
"This is happening because police aren’t being allowed to do their job. There should be a crackdown. There should be more stop and search.” He and his mother welcomed yesterday’s pledge by Mayor Sadiq Khan that the Met would be “ramping up” its use of intelligence-led stop and search, calling it a “vital tool” for keeping people safe.
The family called on other forces bordering London to do the same, as they pointed to “an influx” of gangs venturing into towns bordering the capital as they can be seen as “soft targets”. Caterer Mrs Abraham said her son had learned his generosity from his late father Solomon, a former Christian missionary and head chef at a five-star hotel in the City.
Five boys, all from north London, aged between 14 and 15, have been charged with joint enterprise murder and are due to stand trial on May 21.
MORE ABOUT