Celebrities' horror as young man stabbed to death 'on their doorstep'

Crime reporter(wp/es):

Celebrities have today expressed their horror after a 24-year-old man was knifed to death “on their doorstep” in a leafy, south London enclave.

Model Imogen Thomas revealed she was “petrified” to sleep in her home after the victim was stabbed in the neck as he tried to escape an argument that broke out in the heart of ‘Nappy Valley’ in Wandsworth Common.

A passing Au Pair performed first aid on him but he was declared dead at the scene outside Wandsworth Preparatory School which costs £13,000 a year to attend at 7.30pm on Tuesday night.

Forensics were still sweeping the scene last night digging up drains and cutting down bushes as they gathered more evidence.

Former Big Brother contestent Imogen Thomas told of her shock of the killing as her home was cordoned off by police as part of the crime scene.

She said on Twitter: “[The murder was] literally on my door step. So sad. I was petrified sleeping last night. Thoughts are with the victim’s family. RIP.”

Ready Steady Cook star Ainsley Harriott lives in a house overlooking the murder scene and said the killing had a “devastating” impact on his community.

He told the Weastar Times: “It’s devastating for us around here. We are a very close community and this is a shock to us all. There were police cars and emergency services all over the place.

“This knife crime has to stop, I don’t know what can be done. Where do you start?

“If you stop kids carrying knives that may well not put an end to the violence. There are other weapons people can turn to. It’s about education that’s where it must start.

“Wherever you live you have to stop and think, there seems to be another murder every day. We are all talking about this around here. We are very close knit, we are dog walkers and care about our community. This is just awful, awful, awful.”

A TV journalist, who didn’t want to be named, said from his £2.5million house: “Life really is cheap sometimes.

“It’s shocking, I was upstairs when it happened and was waiting for it to be on the news. It’s worrying you don’t wish something like that on your worst enemy. We had that poor kid in Battersea nearby who was killed as well. It just seems never-ending at the moment.

“The emergency services were excellent, I must say. Their response was phenomenal but sadly nothing could be done. It was upsetting to see him go in the ambulance with no-one with him.

“It’s a sad reality but we just hope the killer is brought to justice.”

The murder comes days after Mohammed Hasan, 17, was hacked to death by a machete-wielding gang less than a mile away in a Battersea estate. The Met said it was too soon to make any link between the two deaths.

Nobody has been arrested in connection with the attack in Wandsworth.