Finsbury Park stabbing: Deliveroo driver stabbed to death in London’s first murder of 2020

Victim killed in road rage attack, friends say

The Metropolitan Police have launched their first murder investigation of the year after a moped driver was stabbed to death in north London.

The victim, a man in his thirties, was found in the Finsbury Park area on Friday evening after reports of a stabbing. He was treated by paramedics but was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

No arrests have been made and enquiries into the incident are continuing, the Met Police said.

The victim was a 30-year-old Algerian delivery moped driver working for both UberEats and Deliveroo, according to friends at the scene.

The group, who are also delivery drivers, said he had been the victim of a road rage attack following an altercation with a car driver.

One said the victim was known as “Taki”, although he was unsure of the English spelling.

A friend of the victim said: “He was a good man. He doesn’t make any trouble – he works and he goes home and he ends up being killed while he’s working. This country is getting worse.”

He added: “It’s not safe to work by yourself anymore – what can you do? If someone comes at you with a knife you give them what you have or they are going to stab you.”

Another driver, who gave his name only as Paul, said: “Taki was a nice guy. He was a gentleman. I would talk to him everyday. He always said hello.”

The delivery drivers criticised the police and their employers for not doing enough to protect them from attacks.

One driver said they felt unsafe “100 per cent” of the time. Another said: “I was attacked here by people with a big machete and now this man has been killed for no reason. The police do nothing.

“They just come, take a statement and then they go.“

A forensic tent has been erected while a police cordon is still in place.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for better protection for delivery drivers.

Speaking at the scene on Saturday, Jeremy Corbyn, whose Islington North constituency includes Finsbury Park, said: “I am totally shocked. This is a very close-knit community, and this is yet another stabbing on the streets of London.

“There are a lot of people working as delivery drivers, they must have better conditions of employment and employers must take more responsibility for their safety too.

“Police cuts have meant fewer officers on the streets, and this raises issues of safety in the community in general,” he added.

Additional reporting by Press Association