Trainee football coach, 23, knifed to death as he picked up birthday meal in east London

Crime reporter(wp/es):

A trainee football coach was stabbed to death as he walked home after picking up a meal on his 23rd birthday, his family said today.

Moses Mayele was ambushed by thugs wearing balaclavas as brought back the takeaway in Hainault, Essex. 

He was pronounced dead at the scene 350 yards from his family home. A 22-year-old friend who was also attacked was recovering in hospital today.

Mr Mayele died at 10.20pm on Friday, just over 24 hours after Hashim Ali, 22, was fatally shot while sitting in the passenger seat of a car in west London. A friend tried to drive Mr Ali to hospital but crashed a mile from hospital in Hillingdon on Thursday afternoon.

The total number of homicides in London this year reached 100 last month. Today a relative of Mr Mayele said he had “no idea” about the motive behind Friday night’s attack, in Manford Way.

No arrests have been made. The family member said: “He was a smart man, a good footballer. This is very painful. He was good and friendly. He never had a problem with people. He had four brothers and they looked up to him.

“He had gone out with a friend to get dinner from a takeaway before a party. They just attacked him, I have no idea what the motivation was.” The Arsenal fan was studying football coaching, his family said. Last night, friends and relatives paid their respects at the scene of the killing.

An online fundraising page has raised over £4,000 for his funeral. A friend wrote that his “contagious smile will be remembered always”. 

Mr Ali, a student at Northampton University, was shot in Central Avenue, Hayes. Friends today described him as a “caring and loving” young man who had played football for Boreham Wood academy.

One said: “He was a humble kid who used to remind his friends about hard work. He was polite and kind. It’s such a shame, we lost a diamond.”

The 27-year-old driver was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and bailed to early November.

At 3.20am on Friday, a man was found with head injuries after an assault in Ferdinand Road, Camden. 

Police were also called shortly before 5.30pm on Saturday after a boy of 17 was stabbed at a youth centre in Woodgrange Road, Forest Gate. 

Four hours later, a man was shot by two people on a moped in Amhurst Road, Hackney.