Camberwell stabbing: ‘Beautiful’ mother Charlotte Huggins named as victim of London knife attack

Victim, 33, was killed hours after wishing her loved ones a 'healthy and happy 2019'

Charlotte Huggins, 33, was stabbed to death in the early hours of New Year's Day (Facebook)

A woman who was stabbed to death in the early hours of New Year’s Day has been remembered as a “beautiful person inside and out”.

Charlotte Huggins, 33, died of a single stab wound at her home in Camberwell, south London.

In a message posted on Facebook hours before the fatal attack, the mother had wished her loved ones a “healthy, happy 2019”.

Ms Huggins included an inspirational quote, which said: “Adversity was only there for you to spring into a new life. The pain from that moment may never leave but the joy and bliss of a new one can always come in.”

Friends were writing tributes on the profile, which listed Ms Huggins as in a relationship.

“Always with a ready smile, a gentle, beautiful person inside and out, the world is a darker place without you,” one woman wrote. “You deserved better. Rest in peace sweet Charlotte.”

Another friend added: “Rest peacefully angel and watch over your beautiful daughter, another stolen way to young.”

Police were called at around 4.20am on Tuesday by paramedics, who later pronounced her dead at the scene.

A 34-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and bailed until mid-January.

Charlotte Huggins, 33, was stabbed to death in the early hours of New Year's Day (Facebook)

Ms Huggins death was the first homicide in London in 2019, and was followed by another death an hour later.

Bouncer Tudor Simionov was stabbed as he tried to stop gatecrashers forcing their way into an exclusive Mayfair party.

The 33-year-old, who recently moved to the UK from Romania, was hailed as a hero for protecting his colleagues from a group of men who attacked two other security guards and a woman.

Detectives are also investigating a shooting at a nightclub in Hackney, east London, where a woman was shot in the leg. No arrests have been made.

The number of people killed in London hit a 10-year high in 2018 and more than a fifth of victims were children and teenagers.

It was the capital’s highest homicide total since 2008, which saw 154 people killed, and a 15 per cent rise year-on-year.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick had named street violence as her “number one priority” and acknowledged the last 12 months had been “challenging”.

At an end-of-year briefing with journalists, she said there had been a rise in domestic killings but that the number of young people being stabbed in public had fallen.

Police say London’s situation is not unique in England and Wales, and have warned of “Wild West” violence sweeping the country amid record levels of knife crime.

Murder detectives have raised concern over increasingly “feral” attacks seeing victims stabbed multiple times, amid warnings that rising violence is driving an increase in knife possession.

Children as young as nine have been found carrying weapons in the belief they will be protected, while officials have warned of a “lost generation” created by austerity and drug gangs.

Amid public outrage over a spate of street murders last spring, a Violent Crime Taskforce was set up in London that has since seized more than 500 guns, 2,000 knives and 900 other weapons.

The use of stop and search powers has increased, and Ms Dick said armed police may be deployed to patrol areas “where gang activity is likely”.