A man in his 80s riding a mobility scooter has been stabbed to death in broad daylight in West London today (August 16). Police were called at 4.06pm to reports of a man with stabbed injuries in Cayton Road, next to the busy A40 in Greenford. Officers as well as LAS and the air ambulance attended.
Police found an elderly man, believed to be in his 80s with stab wounds, despite best efforts of paramedics, he was pronounced dead at the scene. Police say they are working to inform his next of kin and there have been no arrests.
London Ambulance Service said “We were called today (August 16) at 4.10pm to reports of an incident at Runnymead Gardens, Greenford. We sent a number of resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, a medic in a fast response car and an incident response officer. We also dispatched London’s Air Ambulance. Sadly, despite the best efforts of our crews, a person was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Detective chief inspector Jim Eastwood from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command said: “My officers are working to understand what has happened to this man, and we need the public’s assistance. I’m asking for anyone with dash cam or cycle helmet footage to contact us if they were using the Western Avenue A40 Eastbound in the proximity of Cayton Road and Welland Gardens between 15:15hrs and 16:15hrs. The elderly victim, who was riding a mobility scooter, was in the area at the time. If you saw the victim, or captured anyone acting suspiciously in the area, it is imperative that you make contact.”
Chief superintendent Sean Wilson, lead for policing in Ealing, said: “This is an awful incident that will understandably cause considerable alarm to people locally and across London. We are supporting our colleagues in Specialist Crime as they work to understand what has happened and identify who is responsible for this horrific crime. The support of the public is crucial. Police and the community must work together to identify violent offenders and remove them from our streets.”
A huge cordon remains in place, and police say urgent enquiries are are ongoing to find out what happened. Images directly from the scene show what appears to be a chaotic crime scene, surrounded by emergency staff and vehicles. According to traffic monitoring website INRIX, Runnymede Gardens is closed in both directions, with queueing traffic. The website added: “A number of emergency services are in attendance. there are long delays along the A40 as a result of this.
“Long delays and queueing traffic due to a large presence of emergency services in Runnymede Gardens on A40 Western Avenue in both directions around Karoline Gardens. Congestion to Westway roundabout for traffic heading out of town, and back through Northolt towards the Polish War memorial for traffic heading towards town.
“The north circular is also heavily congested around Hanger lane as traffic tries to join the queues. Travel time is around 30 minutes.”
