Lewis Elwin

Lewis Elwin was stabbed in the back in Penwortham Road near the junction with Thrale Road in Tooting between 3.36pm and 3.40pm on 18 April 2016.

He had been ambushed in a gang postcode attack and stabbed in the back and died at the scene. He was stabbed near Penwortham Primary School as children were leaving it.

Two 19-year-old youths were arrested in 2017 but released from bail in March 2017 and no one was ever charged with his murder.

A five-door silver Peugeot 307 with the registration KP03 ZTD was seen in the area shortly after the time Lewis Elwin was stabbed and was later found burnt out in Putney Park Lane and was thought to have been used by his killers. The car had just been sold online nine days earlier.

The car was seen at about 3.30pm near Thrale Road and Penwortham Road before going around Penwortham Primary School and then going along Ullathorne Road where it was recorded on CCTV.

Lewis Elwin had just been dropped off by a family member at about 3.30pm in Moyser Road, at the junction with Ribblesdale Road and was seen walking off towards Mitcham Lane and whilst in Moyser Road at 3.36pm he called a friend on his mobile phone and arranged to meet him. He was next seen struggling to run along Penwortham Road from the direction of Moyser Road before he collapsed 50 yards away at 3.41pm at the bottom of Penwortham Road near the junction with Thrale Road.

Shortly before the ambulance arrived, a woman took off her jumper and a friend of hers used it to try to stop the bleeding.

He died at the scene about ten seconds before the ambulance arrived and a silver sheet was put over his body.

The woman said, 'I was walking with my friend on one side of the road near the mechanics and we saw him fall. We ran over and pulled open his jacket and saw blood. I was on the phone for 16 minutes before the paramedics arrived, but the air ambulance was circulating within six minutes. I didn't know what to do, I was panicked a bit. I told them if you don't arrive soon this boy is going to die. I think 30 people were looking around, trying to help, people were calling the ambulance. He was not responding, he was there but he was not there'.

The police later appealed for people that were in the area, possibly picking their children up from Penwortham Primary School who might have seen anything to come forward, noting that Lewis Elwin had been stabbed once, and that they might not have thought they had seen a man stabbed, but had rather seen a man punched or pushed.

Lewis Elwin was black and had been wearing a black jacket with a fur lined hood, blue jeans and black Nike trainers with silver spots, as well as carrying a black bag with a Nike logo and a long shoulder strap.

At the time of his murder he had been due in Wimbledon Magistrates Court on 27 April for breaching a community order for knife possession and had a previous conviction for carrying a knife in Thrale Road. He had failed to attend his unpaid work session on 17 March, 'without reasonable excuse' and had also attended an unpaid work session after the designated cut off time on 24 March and also left an unpaid work session 'without excuse' on 31 March. However, following his murder, the charges and warrant were withdrawn.

It was also noted that he had been stabbed four years earlier around the time his father died.

He was a trainee electrician and had lived in Southfields. He had gone to Graveney School and had later enrolled at Merton College.