• Detectives appeal for information about a number of people seen running from the scene following the murder.

• Senior investigating officer is urging for those people’s friends and family to come forward and speak to police.

• Witness statements are still being taken and descriptions of those seen are becoming clearer.

Detectives investigating the murder of a 15-year-old schoolboy in Waltham Cross held a press conference yesterday (Monday, December 11) appealing for information about a group of people seen running from the scene.

The conference was held at 2pm at Cheshunt Police Station and was led by Detective Chief Inspector Jerome Kent, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, supported by Broxbourne Chief Inspector Ian Butler.

A video of the conference can be viewed here.

Teenager Jacob Abraham was fatally stabbed in a service road that runs alongside Hurst Drive at some time between 8.30pm and 9.30pm on Thursday, December 7.

He attempted to run back to his family home in Hurst Drive but he never arrived. Jacob collapsed in the service road and was found by his older brother.

Jacob was sadly pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics – just 10 days before he was due to celebrate his 16^th birthday.

During the press conference, DCI Kent said the investigating team were particularly keen to identify a number of people seen running from the scene where Jacob was stabbed.

He said: “The motive for this attack remains unclear, but there is good witness evidence to suggest a group of between four and eight youths were seen running from the area.

“I am appealing today for sisters, girlfriends, mothers or brothers of those people to come forward. The clue to Jacob’s murder lies within the community.

“There are a number of witnesses and they are still being spoken to by police, so we are getting a clearer idea of what they may look like.

“I am convinced that there was a small group of people with Jacob at the time he was stabbed.

“To that group of people, I would say some of you were very involved in that offence, and some of you may feel like you were less involved. I would appeal to those people to please come forward and speak to us.

DCI Kent continued: “I’ve been investigating murders for many years and while any murder is distressing enough, a murder involving someone quite as young as this – and the way in which he was killed – is particularly distressing for his family, and also for my officers.

“Nobody deserves to die in that way – let alone a child. Jacob’s family are absolutely torn apart by this tragedy. His mum is inconsolable at the loss of her child.

“His family are supportive of what we are doing. They are desperate to understand what happened on that night; the reasons why Jacob went out that evening and more importantly, why Jacob didn’t come back, and what the motive behind the attack was.”

Broxbourne Chief Inspector Ian Butler said: “Since this tragic event, we have raised our policing profile in that area and we concentrate our resources in that area with additional patrols to help reassure the community while the investigation team continue with their enquiries.”

If you have any further information that could assist the investigation, please call the Major Crime Incident Room on 01707 355666 or report information online quoting crime reference K2/17/5470.

Alternatively, if you have any information about this incident you can contact the independent crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or through their Anonymous Online Form. No personal details are taken, information cannot be traced or recorded and you will never need to go to court.