Police hunting knifeman on the loose after triple stabbing in two locations in Feltham, west London, just six minutes apart
Police are hunting for a knifeman on the loose tonight after a triple stabbing in two locations just six minutes apart.
Three men were stabbed during the rampage in Feltham, west London. They were all treated at the scene and taken to hospital.
The stabbings are not believed to be linked to today's general election or with any polling station, the Met Police said.
The first attack happened at 2.07pm on Allcot Close where one man was knifed. Officers found him with a stab injury and he was treated at the scene.
Six minutes later two men were stabbed in Walsham Road just over a mile away. A source told MailOnline at the moment the attacks are not being treated as terror related.
Officers appear to be focusing their investigation near an address in Allcot Close tonight where a police cordon is in place.
A discarded bicycle can be seen lying on the pavement in front of a home with a medical kit behind it.
In nearby Walsham Road, a neighbour told MailOnline a cordon had been put up by Scotland Yard but it has since been taken down.
Two victims were thought to be in a life threatening state but emergency services say their condition is now not as serious.
A knifeman is on the loose tonight after three men were stabbed just six minutes apart in Feltham. Two are in a life threatening condition
A discarded bicycle can be seen behind a police cordon in Allcot Close
A medical kit on the floor at the scene of a stabbing in Feltham
A cordon has been put in place outside some homes in Allcot Close where officers appear to be focusing their investigation tonight
The force has now imposed a section 60, which gives police extra search powers, in the town due to 'incidents of violence involving weapons'.
It began at 4pm and will run until 11.59pm tonight.
A Met Police spokesperson said: 'On Thursday, 4 July at 14:07hrs, police were called to Allcot Close in Feltham to reports of a stabbing.
'On arrival officers found a man with a stab injury. The suspect was no longer at the scene.
'He was taken to hospital for treatment to non life-threatening injuries.
'Six minutes later, police were called to Walsham Road to reports of a stabbing where two men were found with stab injuries.
'They were both taken to hospital. Their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
'Crime scenes remain in place at both locations.
'Enquiries are ongoing to establish whether the assaults are linked.'
The force has now imposed a section 60, which gives police extra search powers, in the town due to 'incidents of violence involving weapons'
A number of properties have been sealed off by officers tonight in Allcot Close
Two officers stand outside a property where the stabbing took place which injured one man
Two more men were knifed in nearby Walsham Road - just over a mile away. A neighbour told MailOnline a cordon was put in place by police but this had since been taken down
There were 14,577 knife crime offences recorded by the Met Police in the 12 months to December 2023, Home Office data showed.
That figure accounted for 29 per cent of knife crime in the whole of England and Wales - the highest proportion than any other force.
Earlier this week Ed Sheeran waded in on lawless London to claim that every area is 'sketchy' as he took aim at the violent crime wave sweeping the capital.
In an interview with American stand-up comedian, Theo Von, the Shape of You star admitted he is often fearful about his safety while visiting the city.
He claimed that anyone who shows signs of wealth could find themselves the target of muggers — and that both 'nice' and 'bad' areas of the city are 'sketchy'.
The 33-year-old singer-songwriter lives in his £3.7million Suffolk estate with his wife Cherry Seaborn and their daughters Lyra and Jupiter, but owns 27 properties in the capital.
The star, who is worth around £200million, has slowly been accumulating the land around his country home in Suffolk, which has been dubbed Sheeranville.
When asked by Von what the most 'dangerous' place in the UK is, Sheeran said: 'Here? I'd say every area of London. Literally, every area is sketchy. I think that you cannot be anywhere. It's not like a segregated city.
'No, I mean the nice areas are sketchy, the bad areas are sketchy, but you just have to not do stupid sh**. If you wander around with, I dunno, like a Louis Vuitton duffel bag and a 200 grand watch, you are going to get robbed. But just don't do that.'
In February, it was revealed that muggings in London West End had tripled in the last two years, with thefts making up around 60 per cent of crime in the West End.
London's street crime epidemic last year saw theft from a person offences soar by 27 per cent compared to the previous 12 months.
Metropolitan Police figures show there were 72,756 of those crimes reported in the year to 2023, up from 57,468 in 2022.
Moped and e-bike gangs have been identified as prolific culprits.
A MailOnline investigation found last month that crime has soared in London after more than 100 local police stations were shut down.
It emerged that only 36 police stations remain open in the capital compared to the 160 that the city had in 2008 - a reduction of an astonishing 77%.
The cuts have doubled the distance an average Londoner has to travel to their nearest manned police help desk to around two miles - with researchers warning criminals were specifically targeting areas the Met has abandoned.
Among those closed, some have been turned into luxury flats, others remain vacant - and one was even taken over by gangsters to be used as a weed factory.
MailOnline visited the areas around a number of former police stations to find a consistent pattern of anecdotal accounts of an increase in crime - accompanied by a feeling of powerlessness in the face of this.
Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found police station closures were linked to a 11 per cent increase in local assaults and murders, a doubling of response times and a reduction in the reporting of shoplifting and bike thefts.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, oversees policing in the capital.
A spokesman for the Mayor told MailOnline in June: 'The Government has chronically underfunded the Met since 2010, cutting police funding by more than £1 billion. Since 2016, the Mayor has repeatedly tried to plug this huge funding gap, but is doing so with one hand tied behind his back.
'Against this challenging backdrop, the Mayor has substantially reduced the rate of police station closures begun under the previous mayor Boris Johnson, who closed 70 between 2010-2016.
'He has also maintained his commitment to a 24/7 police front counter in every borough and boosted officer numbers through record investment in policing. With an increased number of police officers and PCSOs now serving in London, the Mayor believes there now is a strong case to retain more police buildings in the capital.'
