Crime reporter(wp/es):
A 14-year-old boy climbed a fence to escape after being stabbed in a park in west London, it was claimed.
The teenager was fighting for life in hospital today after he was found collapsed at a bus stop outside Ravenscourt Park in Hammersmith.
He was treated at the scene in Goldhawk Road before being rushed to a central London hospital.
Police said they were called to reports of a man being found injured in the street near a bus stop on Goldhawk Road, near the junction with Ashchurch Grove at 7.50pm last night.
The stabbing is thought to have taken place minutes earlier in Ravenscourt Park.
A sealed off area inside the park includes a playground which residents said was a popular hangout for young people after dark.
Today blood stains remained on the pavement 20 yards from the bus stop where it is believed the boy ran to from the park.
Detectives from Hammersmith and Fulham CID appealed for witnesses to come forward.
Police refused to give further information about the boy’s injuries but said his condition was potentially life threatening.
The stabbing took place yards from Ashchurch Grove, where a four bedroom home is worth close to £2 million.
A resident said: “The park is closed at night and the boy would have had to have scaled a five foot fence to get out.”
Residents spoke of their shock that the stabbing occurred in “such a nice area.”
Lindy Holston, who lives in Goldhawk Road opposite where the boy was found, said: “It is a really nice area so it’s a big shock that a boy has been stabbed here. When I saw the lights and police last night I thought it must have been a traffic accident. For such a young boy to have been stabbed is just shocking.
“The playground is behind my house in the park. There are sometimes young people in there.”
A resident of Ashchurch Grove said he had seen the boy being put in the back of an ambulance in a wheelchair.
He said: “He was white with short hair. They had taken off his top and his shoes to work on him. His top half seemed to be covered in bandages. It looked serious.
“It was a really big police scene. There were emergency vehicles everywhere and the road was sealed off. It’s a surprise something like this has happened around here. But this is London and these things can happen anywhere.
“I saw the blood on the pavement from when he must have come out from the park. I hope the boy is going to be okay.”
A total of 12 teenagers were murdered in London last year, all of them stabbed.
