Top stories: 4 stabbed in violent weekend and man racks up ?900 in …

Welcome to London’s Big 5, where we bring together all the biggest stories from across the capital all in one place, twice a day. As ever, it’s been a busy weekend in London. If you’ve struggled to keep up with the news, you’ve come to the right place.

A violent weekend in the city has seen a string of unrelated stabbings leaving four teenage boys injured, with one fighting for his life. The incidents, which all happened across East and South London over Saturday and Sunday (April 1 and 2), have marked a disheartening start to the month. In the rest of this afternoon’s daily digest Monday (3 April), Sadiq Khan has called for murderer Wayne Couzens to be stripped of his police pension, and we’ve spoken with a man who is being chased by bailiffs for outstanding fines for driving in the ULEZ even though he lives 200 miles from the city and more.

Check it out below.

1. Four teenagers stabbed with one fighting for his life in violent weekend on city’s streets

A 16-year-old was stabbed after an incident on a bus in South London

A string of unrelated stabbings has left four teenage boys injured this weekend.

One is fighting for his life in hospital, while the rest are recovering. The incident all happened across East and South London over Saturday and Sunday (April 1 and 2). Click below for a roundup of every incident across the weekend, including a 36-year-old man also stabbed and another man hit by a bus.

Read the full rundown of incidents over the weekend here.[2]

2. Sadiq Khan calls for Sarah Everard’s killer Wayne Couzens to be stripped of GBP4,000-a-year police pension

Couzens was handed a whole-life prison sentence for kidnapping, raping and murdering Sarah Everard in 2021 (Image: PA Media)

Sadiq Khan has called for murderer Wayne Couzens to be stripped of his police pension. The Mayor of London has written to cabinet members this week, urging them to ensure the former Metropolitan Police [3] officer will not receive his police pension, which is estimated to be worth up to GBP4,000 a year.

Couzens was handed a whole-life prison sentence for kidnapping, raping and murdering Sarah Everard in 2021. A serving police officer at the time, Couzens used his police ID card to lure the 33-year-old marketing executive into his car, using Covid powers to stop and falsely arrest her as she walked home from dinner at a friend’s house during lockdown. In a letter to Cabinet ministers this weekend, Sadiq Khan sought to ensure Couzens, 49, will not receive his pension as “the public would rightly expect” following the “heinous crime,” reports The Mirror.[4][5]

Read the full story here.[6]

3. London ULEZ: ‘I’ve racked up GBP900 in TfL fines even though I live 200 miles away’

Rio Hamilton's van which he has now sold Rio Hamilton’s van which he has now sold

A man is being chased by bailiffs for outstanding fines for driving in London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zones even though he lives 200 miles from the city in Devon. Since 2021 Rio Hamilton has been in a battle with Transport for London [7] because he claims that the two ULEZ [8] fines issued for his royal blue Citroen van used in the London area were not activated by his vehicle.

Rio claims his registration was cloned and used in North London [9] whilst he was in a different part of the country altogether. The 69-year-old is being chased by bailiffs at an address in London he uses through a friend as he doesn’t have a fixed address of his own but spends most of his time living in Devon. Rio claims they have said they will break into the property to reclaim the funds.

Read the full article here.[10]

4. The London neighbourhood where you’re ‘more likely to live longer’ but the stats hide a darker side

(Image: Adam Toms/MyLondon)

The neighbourhoods in London where you’re more likely to live longer than anyone else in the city have been revealed and residents in one of the city’s ‘healthiest’ area have explained why they think life is so good. Data from Health Equals [11] revealed that the top five constituencies with the longest life expectancy were Westminster North (85), Hampstead and Kilburn (86), Richmond Park (86), Kensington (87) with the Cities of London and Westminster coming first with an average age of 88 years old. Residents in living in Hampstead and Kilburn have expressed their surprise at the statistics and suggested that lots of green open spaces and good GP surgeries and hospitals [12] may be the reasons for their longer average life spans. MyLondon [13] spoke to those enjoying the fresh air in Kilburn Grange Park off Kilburn High Road, who said that life is generally good in the area as it has a good community feel and people ‘know each other’.

However others said it was misleading to lump the two area together as one has a darker side and more violent crime.

5. Bake Off’s Prue Leith: ‘London’s food is so much better now – what I served in my Michelin restaurant was lumpy and ugly’

Dame Prue Leith is heading to the London Palladium to wrap up her first ever theatre tour (Image: Neil Reading PR/Supplied)

Becoming a household name isn’t an easy feat, but for Dame Prue Leith, she’s synonymous with weekday night watching, all thanks to a little old show called Great British Bake Off.

Having made it through her first ever nationwide theatre tour at the age of 82, the businesswoman, chef, broadcaster and philanthropist – you name it, she’s probably done it – will be seeing out her travels at the London Palladium. “I must be off my head,” she laughed. The veteran chef admitted she couldn’t escape the nerves in the early days of the tour, before she easily got over it.

However, the prospect of appearing at the London Palladium [15] is “scaring the pants” off her. Read the full interview with Dame Prue Leith here.[16] That’s it from us today, we’ll be back tomorrow morning with more top stories.

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References

^ Armed police have to be called out to deal with dog after it viciously attacks girl, 11, in South East London (www.mylondon.news)
^ Read the full rundown of incidents over the weekend here. (www.mylondon.news)
^ Metropolitan Police (www.mylondon.news)
^ Sadiq Khan (www.mylondon.news)
^ reports The Mirror. (www.mirror.co.uk)
^ Read the full story here. (www.mylondon.news)
^ Transport for London (www.mylondon.news)
^ ULEZ (www.mylondon.news)
^ North London (www.mylondon.news)
^ Read the full article here. (www.mylondon.news)
^ Data from Health Equals (www.mylondon.news)
^ GP surgeries and hospitals (www.mylondon.news)
^ MyLondon (www.mylondon.news)
^