Trainee lawyer stabbed in London

In the latest surge of knife violence to sweep London a 22-year-old privately educated graduate was stabbed to death.

 

Aspiring lawyer Sven Badzak was killed as he went to the local supermarket to buy orange juice for his mother. Mr Badzak, who was a pupil at Wetherby and Portland Place schools, before studying sociology at Roehampton University, was with a 16-year-old friend at the time of the attack in Kilburn, north-west London.

 

Detective Chief Inspector Darren Jones, who is leading the investigation said: "At this early stage we believe Sven and his friend became involved in an altercation with a group of males. As this group chased the pair, Sven and his friend became separated. Sven fell to the ground and was attacked by a number of the group. His friend was also attacked but managed to seek sanctuary in a shop. However, he remains critically ill in hospital."

 

Speaking at the time of the incident, Chief Inspector Guy Ellwood, of the Met's North West Basic Command Unit, said: "This was a barbaric attack in a public place and the community will be rightly shocked. As a result you will see more officers on the streets… over the remainder of this weekend and the coming days. If you have any concerns then please speak to them. I would also appeal directly to the community – violence of this nature has no place on our streets."

 

Mr Badzak's mother, 49-year-old Jasna Badzak who fled the former Yugoslavia 30 years ago and is a former Conservative activist, posted a picture on Twitter of her only son with Boris Johnson and pleaded with the Prime Minister to help bring his killers to justice.

 

Ms Badzak, said: "He was the most polite boy you could possibly imagine. He was beloved by everybody. He always asked people how their day was, how their family is, if he could do something for them."

 

The stabbings marked a bloody weekend in the capital in which at least 12 others were wounded in knife attacks, and two people died. In this year there have already been 11 murders in London, 10 of which involved knives. Detective Superintendent Nicky Arrowsmith described the surge in knife crime across the capital as "needless and completely abhorrent".

 

Mandy Peters Solicitors 

Lewisham