Knife Fatality continues

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A man has been stabbed to death at the door of his Knowle West home. Bristol. The killing happened at around 4.30pm yesterday on Ilminster Avenue after the victim and his attacker had been reportedly drinking at a children's fun day at a nearby youth centre. Police have not named the victim, who is understood to have died from multiple stab wounds to the chest and neck, but locals at the scene said he was a father-of-two in his 20s, whose partner was four months pregnant. No one had been arrested in connection with the killing last night but witnesses reported seeing the killer run down the street, wielding a knife and covered in blood.

They described him as in his late 20s, around 5ft 8in and with short, black hair.

No one was prepared to name the killer but he was said to be well-known around Knowle West.

Police sealed off the area around Ilminster Avenue for several hours as officers conducted house-to- house inquiries and forensic scientists examined the crime scene.

Dominic Costello, 31, had been drinking at the Eagle House youth centre in Newquay Road with the victim, and who was at the scene shortly after the attack. The centre had hosted part of a family fun day, sponsored by the police and the city council, which also included a volunteer street clean-up involving 80 residents, children's entertainment and a five-a-side soccer tournament. Mr Costello said: "There was a fun day on for the kids and we were all down there drinking. "I left, then went to the shops on Newquay Road and just as I came out I saw the guy with the knife running past."

Mr Costello said he found blood on the doorstep of the victim's home and found him on the floor. He said: "I tried to give him mouth-to-mouth but his pulse gradually faded and then he just went. "The paramedics came and tried to revive him but to no avail."

One man, who did not want to be named, said he had attended the former Merrywood School with the victim. He said he saw the knifeman running along Ilminster Avenue and shouting, before dropping a knife, picking it back up and running off. The man said: "The two of them had been up at the club most of the afternoon - they weren't arguing or anything and nothing seemed to be wrong.

"I left to come down to the shops on Newquay Road and as I was walking back up I saw a lot of people up on Ilminster Avenue, screaming. Then I saw him running past." Another man said he had been a friend of the victim. He said: "He was a good kid, never got into fights, was no trouble and liked to keep himself to himself. He would do anything for anybody.

"I'm really shaken up by this - I was talking to him just an hour before and now I'm never going to see him again." The incident is the latest in a series of murders and serious assaults involving knives which have happened in the week since a national knife amnesty was launched by the Home Office.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the killing.

Detective Chief Inspector Guy Vickers, who is leading the investigation, said: "A man was spotted running away from the scene of the incident and police are appealing for help from the tight-knit community to track him down.

"We need to know anything people can tell us, leading from the background up to what's happened and the causes behind. "We need to know the company this man was in earlier in the afternoon and what led up to this incident. "It's time for neighbours to come forward, speak to us and tell us what's behind this."

Anyone with information should call Bristol CID on 0845 456 7000 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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