A teenager has been found guilty of fatally stabbing 17-year-old Khaled Saleh in a central London park.

The 17-year-old boy – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was identified as the suspect by an eagle-eyed local officer leading to his arrest.

This came after Khaled was attacked and stabbed in St Mary’s Churchyard, Paddington during the middle of the day on 19 June 2023.

Detective Inspector Ollie Stride, who led the investigation for one of the Met’s homicide teams, said: “The violence used in this attack left Khaled with little chance of survival.

“The defendant was in the park in possession of a knife when he was approached by a group including Khaled. He had many options but chose to attack Khaled, who was unarmed, stabbing him once and continuing to attack him after he had stumbled to the floor and could not defend himself. He then fled with his two associates leaving Khaled dying on the floor while shocked park-goers desperately tried to save his life.

“This was a truly shocking scene and one which starkly outlines the devastating consequences of carrying a knife.”

Once police arrived at the scene, they immediately began to piece together what had happened. CCTV showed the suspect carrying out the attack and a local officer recognised the assailant, leading detectives to his door.

He was arrested the day after the attack. Detectives found that within an hour of the stabbing, the suspect had removed the SIM card from his mobile phone and wiped it in an attempt to evade detection.

A search of an address linked to the defendant also recovered a distinctive jacket he had been seen wearing in the CCTV of the attack. While the weapon used to attack Khaled has not been recovered, following a search of a separate address used by the defendant a large knife was found.

The boy, who was 16 at the time of the attack, tried to claim he acted in self-defence but CCTV clearly showed that while Khaled had approached him, he had not been physically threatened before producing the knife and carrying out his deadly attack.

Following the conclusion of a trial at the Old Bailey on Thursday, 22 February, the teenager – now aged 17 – was found guilty of manslaughter. He was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing at the same court on a date to be confirmed.