J’can killed in South London stabbing
Three women and a man were all found stabbed to death in London Monday morning. A grandmother, Dolet Hill, originally from Lyssons in Saint Thomas, Jamaica, has been named as one of the four people killed in Bermondsey on Monday.
The Mirror understands that Hill, who was in her 60s, and the other victims were three generations of the same family.
The Metropolitan Police say a man in his late 20s, known to the victims, has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the “dreadful discovery”.
Police were called at roughly 1:40 am to reports of a disturbance at a home in south Bermondsey, with one witness claiming a group of armed officers ran into the home.
Inside police found four people believed to have been stabbed to death, the Met said.
Another witness claimed that they saw four people lying on the street receiving CPR.
The three female victims were in their 30s, 40s and 60s, and the man was in his 60s.
People claiming to be family members of those killed arrived at the scene shortly before noon.
Despite the efforts of emergency services, all four people were pronounced dead at the scene, Scotland Yard said in a statement.
Speaking from the scene this afternoon, Metropolitan Police Commander Commander Colin Wingrove said: “In the early hours of this morning, following a call from neighbours, officers forced entry into a house.
“Inside the house they made a dreadful discovery of four people who had been stabbed. All four people were sadly announced dead at the scene.
“A man in his late 20s was arrested at the address on suspicion of murder and he is currently in custody. At this early stage we are not looking for any other person. We believe all those involved may have been known to each other.
“I want to offer my heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of all those concerned.
“This is a deeply shocking incident and we will do everything we can to provide support to everyone affected at this difficult time.”
A large police presence remained at the scene today, where a barrier has been erected to block the road and several forensic tents are in place.
An alleged witness has told of seeing police “jump out of their cars with rifles”, after seven or eight police cars as well as three ambulances arrived at the scene.
“There were seven or eight police cars and three ambulances,” the neighbour told My London.
“Police jumped out with rifles. We heard them go in, then all of a sudden it just went quiet for a little while. Then we saw the forensics people go in.”
Four body bags were loaded into a private ambulance following the discovery of the bodies.
They were brought to the silver van from behind the metal fence blocking off the crime scene, where forensic officers are continuing their investigations.
The Met have said that officers are in the process of contacting next of kin and that post-mortem examinations will be arranged soon.
One man told The Mirror what his son, 15, saw in the early hours of Monday.
“He could see four police getting out of a 4×4 fully armed with machine guns,” the dad explained.
“He thought they had shot someone and they were giving treatment for that by an ambulance. But obviously this morning we hear they’ve been stabbed.
“He was woken up by the police arriving and looked out of the window, and, in his tired state, saw four people were lying in the street outside getting CPR. I don’t know exactly if that’s how it happened.”
A neighbour who didn’t want to be named said: “I was watching telly when about half one in the morning, I heard a woman screaming for about five minutes.
“It was awful. But when I heard the police, the helicopter, the ambulances, I knew it was really serious.
“I saw about eight or nine police cars — all were armed — come out and surround the area.”
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and taken to a south London police station where he remains in custody.
A spokesperson for London Ambulance Service said four people died at the scene and that one man was taken to hospital “as a priority”.
They would not confirm whether the person hospitalised was the same one as the man arrested, but did say only five people were found in the house.
This story first appeared on Mirror.co.uk, the online edition of The Mirror.