Seven more held over boy's stab murder in Downham

Thursday 02 August 2012 10:13 EDT

Detectives investigating the murder of a teenager who was stabbed to death within days of his 16th birthday have made seven more arrests.

The victim, named locally as Nathaniel Brown, was murdered at a house party in Downham, south east London, in the early hours of yesterday morning.

In the past two days, officers have arrested four men in Edgware, north London, and two men and a woman in Deptford, south east London.

Four of those have been bailed, while three remain in custody, Scotland Yard said.

Another three men aged 16 to 18 who were initially arrested have been told there will be no further action.

Emergency crews were called to the house in Launcelot Road at 4am but the victim was pronounced dead just over an hour later.

His distraught relatives were too upset to talk about their loss.

But friends paid tribute to the boy nicknamed "Natz", who turned 16 earlier this week, on Twitter.

"RIP Nathaniel Brown," said one.

"May your soul rest in peace."

Another said: "RIP Nathaniel Brown, your (sic) in a better place."

One neighbour who lives close to the scene was woken by screams in the middle of the night.

"It was around 2.30am and I heard these shouts and screams," said the woman, who did not want to be named.

"It started to get louder and louder and when I got up to look out about 3.15am I saw all these people running away from the house.

"I went into a bit of shock then about what happened. I have been up since and haven't slept. It's just awful what's happened."

Neighbour Tyrone Simpson said people were stunned.

"This was a young kid. It's very sad. I've have young kids of my own and this boy was only 16. It's terrible," he said.

Formal identification of the victim has yet to take place, and a post-mortem examination was scheduled for this afternoon.

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