A man has been stabbed to death in East London in the early hours of Boxing Day morning, the Metropolitan Police have confirmed. The police force were called shortly after 3am today (December 26) to reports of a stabbing just moments from Old Street station on Cranwood Street in the borough of Hackney.
Along with paramedics from the London Ambulance Service, officers rushed to the scene where they found a man with stab wounds. The man, believed to be aged 49 years old, has died as a result of his injuries.
Four people have been arrested on suspicion of murder. These are two men aged 49 and 42, and two women aged 35 and 44. All four remain in custody.
A crime scene remains in place on Cranwood Street, where the stabbing happened. The Metropolitan Police force are now appealing for information about the incident, and are urging people to come forward.
They say: "Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 or ‘X’ @MetCC and quote CAD669/26Dec. You can also provide information anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111."
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Gestational diabetes is high blood sugar that can develop during any stage of pregnancy. It is more likely to occur in the second or third trimester and usually disappears after giving birth.
It happens when your body cannot produce the amount of extra insulin your body needs during pregnancy. According to the NHS, it's often not an issue but sometimes it may cause issues for you and your baby during pregnancy and after birth.
There is a lower risk of any problems if it is detected early and well-managed. You will be screened for the condition after an initial antenatal appointment if they feel you are at risk.
After an initial antenatal appointment, your midwife will screen you for the condition if they feel you are at risk. They will carry out an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), which takes about 2 hours and is done when you're between 24 and 28 weeks pregnant.
It involves having a blood test in the morning, on an empty stomach. After this you are given a glucose drink.
Then, two hours later, another blood sample is taken to see how your body is dealing with the glucose.
You are advised to inform your midwife/GP if you have any symptoms (Image: Getty)
Symptoms of gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes is quite hard to detect as it does not usually cause any symptoms. Some women may develop symptoms if their blood sugar levels get too high, such as:
increased thirst
a dry mouth
needing to pee more often than usual
tiredness
blurred eyesight
genital itching or thrush
Most of these symptoms can occur during pregnancy so if there is concern it is important to speak to your midwife about what you are experiencing.
Who's at risk?
Any pregnant woman can get gestational diabetes, but some factors increase the risk. They include if:
you are above 40
you had gestational diabetes in a previous pregnancy
your body mass index (BMI) is above 30
you previously had a baby who weighed 4.5kg (10lb) or more at birth
a parent or sibling has diabetes
you are of south Asian, Black, African-Caribbean or Middle Eastern origin (even if you were born in the UK)
you have had a gastric bypass or other weight-loss surgery
Problems gestational diabetes can cause
Although most people with gestational diabetes experience a healthy pregnancy, some people do face issues during pregnancy and after birth. These include:
your baby growing larger than usual – increasing your chance of needing induced labour or a caesarean section
polyhydramnios – large amounts of the fluid (amniotic) that surrounds the baby in the womb. This can cause problems at delivery
premature birth
pre-eclampsia– a condition that causes high blood pressure and can create complications
your baby being born with jaundice your baby
the loss of your baby - this is rare
Despite gestational diabetes going away after birth, it does mean you are at an increased risk of getting type two diabetes in the future. It can also redevelop in future pregnancies.
If you have the condition you should have regular blood tests post giving birth. A blood test is needed six to thirteen weeks after and then after that, once a year.
Treatments
Often you won't need any medicine for gestational diabetes and controlling your blood sugar levels may be enough. You can do so with a blood sugar testing kit that you will be given.
Ways to reduce your blood sugar levels include being more active and changing your diet. It is only if these changes don't lower your blood sugar levels enough that you will be given medicine.
This could be insulin injections or tablets. The condition also often means induction of labour or a caesarean may be recommended as it is better to give birth before 41 weeks.
A man has died in South London this morning after it caught alight in the early hours of Christmas Eve.
Firefighters were called to the blaze in a flat on Kimber Road in Wandsworth just before 4am this morning where they found the fire engulfing a three bedroom ground floor flat, in a converted end of terraced house.
Half of the flat was damaged by the fire, and upon entering the property firefighters found one man inside who was pronounced dead at the scene.
The fire happened on Kimber Road in Wandsworth (Image: Google)
Firefighters from stations in Wandsworth, Battersea and Tooting all attended the scene and the incident was under control by 5.26am.
An investigation is now underway to find out what exactly caused the fatal blaze.
A London Fire Brigade spokesperson said: "Sadly a man has died following a flat fire on Kimber Road in Wandsworth.
"Half of a three bedroom ground floor flat, in a converted end of terraced house, was damaged by the fire. One man was found inside the property and pronounced dead at the scene.
"The Brigade was called about the incident at 0352 and the fire was under control by 0526. Firefighters from Wandsworth, Battersea and Tooting fire stations attended the scene.
A woman is in hospital after a flat in the middle of a three-storey block exploded in East London this morning violently blowing the walls out of the property.
Dramatic pictures from the scene show the entire exterior wall of the middle floor flat blow out on both sides of the building with windows, brickwork, and a Christmas tree among the debris sat in the gardens below.
Around 15 firefighters and at least three fire engines rushed to the scene at around 2.30am on Well Street in Hackney where they found the woman still in the flat suffering from minor burns and shock.
A woman is in hospital being treated for minor burns and shock (Image: David Nathan/UKNIP)
She was helped out of the flat by firefighters and treated by paramedics before being taken to hospital. Two other residents were also evacuated due to the damage caused to the block.
A London Fire Brigade spokesperson said: "Three fire engines and around 15 firefighters were called to a collapsed building on Well Street in Hackney at 2.32am this morning.
"Firefighters attended a three storey block of flats where an explosion, suspected to have been caused by a boiler, had caused damage to the front and rear of a flat on the first floor.
A Christmas Tree was amongst the rubble (Image: David Nathan/UKNIP)
"One woman was rescued by firefighters from the property suffering from burns and shock, she was treated at the scene by London Ambulance Service crews and taken to hospital. Two other residents were evacuated from the building.
A 796 sqft flat in Upper Norwood has been sold. The home, situated at Crown Point, Beulah Hill in the SE19 postcode area, was registered as sold on 28 September 2023 for a sale price of £217,500. The sale price represents a price per sqft of £273.
The building has an E-rated energy efficiency.
Properties that have recently been sold nearby:
On 29 June 2023, a 592 sqft apartment in Queen Mary Road (number 121) was sold for £250,000. That's £422 per sqft.
On 19 January 2023, a 693 sqft flat (39 Queen Mary Road) was sold for £335,000. That's £483 per sqft. The flat has two bedrooms and one bathroom.
216 Beulah Hill - sold on 4 May 2023 for £150,000. It's a 570 sqft apartment. That works out at £263 per sqft.
About the area:
Upper Norwood is the centermost part of the Victorian suburb of Norwood and is located west of Crystal Palace. It is one of the highest areas in London, situated near the London clay ridge (Beulah Hill), and offers views of Central London, Central Croydon, and the North Downs.
Most of the property dates to the 19th and 20th centuries, with ‘imposing mansions’, often with ‘ostentatious ornamentation’. It has a number of schools and churches and counts composer Edward Elgar and novelist Émile Zola among its notable former residents.
Nearly six in 10 households either have a mortgage or own their own home outright. Around a quarter of households live in a semi-detached house, but a third are in a flat or a tenement, the most common property type.
This article was crafted with the help of an AI engine, which speeds up MyLondon's editorial research and applies it to article templates created by journalists in our newsrooms. A MyLondon editor reviewed this content before it was published. You can report any errors or bugs to mylondonnewsdesk@reachplc.com.
A Black teaching assistant from North London claims he was ‘racially profiled’ after being sacked from a school for ‘smelling of cannabis’ - despite not smoking. Eli Belmar, 28, from Islington, is considering legal action as he feels he was 'unfairly dismissed' by bosses at Bridge Academy in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.
He insists he does not smoke or vape due to having double pneumonia as a youngster and says the smell had in fact come from one of his students. He said he'd been employed through an agency at the school for just over a week when the accusations arose.
And he claims he was not given the chance to fully defend himself or properly question the rumours before he was ordered not to return. Eli, who was previously a youth worker and has also taught in prisons, said he’d been rocked by the sacking which had left him psychologically scarred.
Eli Belmar says he does not smoke or vape due to having double pneumonia as a youngster (Image: Eli Belmar / SWNS)
The trust which runs the school denied Eli’s ethnicity had anything to do with him being told not to return. Eli said: “I would say it's racial profiling, I would say it’s unconscious bias and I would say it’s unfair dismissal as well.
“It had a heavy effect on me. I had to leave Milton Keynes for a whole week. I had to go and live with my parents just to have some time away. It was an irrational statement and very degrading because they don’t know me from anywhere, I’d only been in the school for a week and a half.
“The teachers haven’t even had a conversation with me and they’re having that kind of judgement on me. Psychologically, this will definitely affect me. It’s very worrying.”
'Felt as though other teachers were suspicious of him'
Eli said he had moved to Milton Keynes for work in August this year. And he then got a role at Bridge Academy, in Coffee Hall, Milton Keynes, a secondary alternative provision school in November. Eli said he'd got on really well with the students and made close ties with several of the pupils in just his first week at the school.
But he also felt the teachers were suspicious of him and didn’t approve of the way he was interacting with the children. Eli said: “I really liked it when it came to the students.
"The conversations I was having were very good because they had a lot of questions for me – being from London, a big city. Within lunch times and break times, some of the students would come up to me and have conversations. But with the teachers, I did sense a bit of animosity and a bit of jealousy because I was getting so close to the students within a short period of time.”
Eli said allegations about him 'smelling of cannabis' emerged after a student had come into the school under the influence of the drug. They had been excluded from a set of mock exams but were later allowed to rejoin the class where he was working as an assistant.
And when a teacher arrived to begin the lesson, they made comments suggesting he was responsible for the pungent smell.
Eli Belmar moved to Milton Keynes from Islington (Image: Eli Belmar / SWNS)
He said: “One teacher who came in, she said, ‘Can you smell that’ to one of her colleagues, and then they both looked at me with a side-eye. I didn’t say anything at the time, but then on my lunch break, I received a call from my agency, and they said there’s been a complaint saying I had a smell of cannabis.
“I said, ‘Has there been a preconception of me because I don’t smoke?’" Eli said he later confronted the teacher, who told him his job was safe. But the following day, he was told he shouldn’t return to the school.
He added: “They said the teacher said even though it’s ‘fine to use it personally,’ you don’t have to come back anymore because it’s now a ‘safeguarding matter’." Eli was left confused and disappointed by the sacking and said there was no way he had used the drug due to his previous health complications. He said: “When I was younger I had double pneumonia, so I’m conscious of my health, and I go to the gym.”
'Concerns raised by a member of staff'
The Stephenson MK Trust, which runs Bridge Academy, denied that Eli’s 'ethnicity' had anything to do with him being told not to return to the school. Their spokesperson said: “An agency member of staff was engaged at Bridge who was employed by the agency and not by the Stephenson (MK) Trust. The agreement with the agency was ended due to concerns raised about the member of staff that were not in line with Trust expectations and policies.
“No part of the decision made was related to the agency member's ethnicity. The Trust is committed to diversity and inclusion in all its employment practices. We expect very high standards from all our employees and want to give the very best support to our young people.
“We have professional expectations of all members of staff, and we are diverse and reflective of the community we teach. Should a member of staff fall below these expectations the Trust would follow our policies, statutory obligations and best practices to ensure that the appropriate actions and next steps are taken.”
A dad who shattered his arm after a 'botched' safety measure catapulted him from his bicycle is suing Croydon Council. Richard Lander was cycling down busy Brighton Road in the evening rush hour when he pulled out of the cycle lane to overtake a bus which had pulled into a stop at around 4:45pm on November 3.
In the late autumn darkness, the dad-of-two says he did not see a black 'base' on road which divides bikes and traffic, and was catapulted over the handlebars, hitting the ground so hard he broke his wrist. Six weeks later, after doctors stuck a metal plate in his arm, the 63-year-old IT project manager says he is still in constant pain and does not know when can get back to riding.
Mr Lander has since complained to the council about the road safety measures and has instructed Osbornes Law to take legal action in a bid to highlight the issue and get the council to make changes.
The offending safety measure which Richard Lander is taking legal action over (Image: Supplied)
“When you have an impact like that, it knocks you silly and I was in incredible pain. I’m just thankful for the passers-by who stopped to help me up out of the road, without whom it could have been a lot worse," Mr Lander said.
"I was covered in bruises and badly injured my coccyx, but it was my wrist that bore the brunt. It’s my dominant left hand so it’s affected my ability to do just about everything, from holding a cup of tea to dressing myself. I can’t work, I can’t drive and I think this is the longest in 60 years that I’ve gone without cycling.
"It’s also the first accident I’ve had, which I believe shouldn’t have happened in the first place, and so now I just want to make sure that the same thing doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
Richard says the bases were originally put in with clearly visible wands before a decision was made to remove most of them. Although the bases and their reflective markings were left behind, he says the latter are little more than stickers which could easily be damaged by cars. He claims there were no such stickers on the night in question or the lights on his bike would have picked them out.
Surgeons put metal plates to fix the bones but Richard is still in constant pain (Image: Supplied)
He added: “I was wearing a helmet, as I always do, a hi-vis coat and had lights on the front of my bike but they didn’t pick anything up. If they’re constantly being driven over by heavy vehicles, it stands to reason that these stickers aren’t going to last very long.
“The council could just keep replacing them, of course, but that is only a temporary solution. My hope is that this focuses the council’s attention on finding a more permanent and reliable way to ensure public safety.”
Sam Collard, head of cycling accident claims at Osbornes Law and part of the team representing Richard, added: “Whilst not life-threatening, Richard’s injuries are such that he may never regain full movement in his hand and, at best, faces a long and painful recovery.
“On a busy road at rush hour, however, it is incredibly fortunate that he was not more seriously hurt, and this should serve as a wake-up call for Croydon council to urgently review its so-called safety measures before the same or worse happens to someone else.”
A spokesperson for Croydon Council said they were unable to comment during active legal proceedings.
