06/09/2017 London News

Good evening. I'm Alice Salfield.

"An act of pure evil" - that's how the mother of 15-year-old

Quamari Serunkuma Barnes has described the death of her son.

Today, the teenager who chased and stabbed him with a large kitchen

knife outside his school in Willesden has been

locked up for at least 14 years for his murder.

Quamari's parents said he loved school and his life

Alex Bushill has been speaking to them.

Quamari Barnes was just 15 and on his way home

when he was stabbed to death outside his school.

He was clearly adored by his many friends,

some of whom he had just shared a class with.

His killer, another schoolboy of the same age.

I've got more disbelief that someone so young could do something so bad.

Her son was a pupil at the Capital City Academy in Willesden,

and it was outside these school gates his many friends

came to remember him, and through these school gates

Back in January, as he left school, Quamari walked up Doyle Gardens.

Waiting here on the corner was his assailant.

Quamari recognised him, turned on his heels and ran

Moments later, he was stabbed in broad daylight and in

CCTV caught the moment his attacker fled, dressed in black and armed

Later in hospital, as Quamari lay dying, he was able to whisper

And to this day, I cannot reveal his name because of

The judge at the Old Bailey today sentenced the defendant to a minimum

of 14 years detention at Her Majesty's pleasure.

He said the restrictions on revealing his identity

would not be lifted, because there is the chance

What no one in court expected was for the defendant

to suddenly confess, but he did just minutes before

The judge removed two years of his jail term as a result.

Outside court, Quamari's family were not impressed.

Personally, I think he was grabbing at straws,

It was last ditch, trying to save his own bacon.

As for motive, nobody really knows why Quamari was stabbed.

His attacker has only said he was acting out of anger.

He had been looking for another boy who he had quarrelled

with the night before, which is why Quamari's mother has

You should be aware of what your child is doing.

I know a lot of people work, but maybe the community,

we all need to take an active role in how kids are being looked

after and not just left to get on with whatever

That's why for her this was an act of violence

that was as casual as it was fatal, and it cost her her son.

The story of one family's ordeal at the hands of knife crime.

But this isn't the only type of violence affecting

Another family in the capital is dealing with a huge loss today

More on this from Dan Freedman, and this was a 14-year-old

That's right, as we reported yesterday, Corey Junior Davis, known

as CJ, was shot in forest gate, east London on Monday and died in

hospital at about ten the last night. Today, his grandfather has

described him, we can see him here, a few years ago, in his school

uniform, as "A lovely little lad", and says he's got no idea why anyone

would want to kill them. A 17-year-old boy was shot in the same

incident and he received what have been described as life changing

injuries and he is still in hospital in a stable condition. Scotland Yard

that they are concerned about possible retaliation attacks and

they have put extra patrols in this part of Newham as a precaution. They

are asking for information about a light-coloured 4x seen driving off

after the shooting. We know that here in London. -- a light-coloured

4x4. We know knife crime has gone up 22% in the last year and now gun

crime is up 42% so what we see with these cases culminating today, a

knife death and a gun death is that these are both still big problems

affecting young people in the capital. Thank you for joining us.

As we've been hearing, a document detailing

the government's thinking on immigration after

The proposals include an end to unlimited freedom of movement

for EU citizens coming here, new arrivals after 2019 having

to register to stay long-term and tighter rules for lower-skilled

workers in order to prioritise British employees.

But what impact could these plans have on the capital's businesses?

Here's our political editor Tim Donovan.

Brands don't respect borders and here's the latest proof.

Kate Moss, the face of a Polish clothing chain, with 1700

Opening in Oxford Street today, its first attempt to conquer London.

Brexit came too late for second thoughts, here.

The company's been planning this for three years.

Of course it is a little bit worrying because in our case,

we have about 10-15% of people working for us coming

from Eastern Europe but well, we will see.

It is a little bit worrying that the UK will leave the European Union

because we believe that in a global environment, it is better

to be in a bigger family, like the European family.

In retail in London, a fifth of workers are from the EU

but more controls on who comes in was not worrying

There will be someone that wants to start their own business.

Train local people? Yes.

They will have sensible controls of immigration coming in,

People like these guys here, you want them.

They are innovation, they are young and bright

and they can bring that into the country.

But we don't want all the other people, to a certain extent,

who are coming here just to scrounge off the country.

Others are not so sure about the suggestion unskilled EU

workers could only come here for two years.

We need to think about, when people have been here for two years,

have they made their lives, have they settled down and what do

we need to go through to enable them to perhaps stay?

We need to think about our own people wanting to go

It is not just retail watching anxiously.

At this restaurant in Ealing, half the 30 staff are British

As hard as we try, and as much as we try to work with local

universities or colleges, educational bodies, we are just not

So to be honest, short of the government having a complete

rethink about how we position hospitality to young

people as a career option, I can't see how we're

But many people aren't convinced by that and want assurances that

free movement is curtailed as soon as possible.

The Mayor is to spend ?250 million buying up land

City Hall says it's a key part of its strategy to tackle

Opponents say it lacks detail and doesn't set targets.

Our political correspondent Karl Mercer reports.

The mayor was in Tower Hamlets to launch his housing strategy,

his plan for building the homes london needs over the coming years.

his plan for building the homes London needs over the coming years.

This is the sort of development he wants to see more of.

This family moved in just three weeks ago.

All 147 homes on this site are at affordable or council rents.

To be affordable, it means we can stay within the borough and not move

out of London because we were given that thought a few years ago.

But we are lucky enough to stay in Tower Hamlets and have such

a lovely home in a very safe place as well.

This nearby estate is also set to be rebuilt.

Half of its 1500 homes will be affordable.

And the mayor today announced a new ?250 million fund that

City Hall will use to buy land and then sell on to house builders.

We've got to make sure we recognise that actually,

we've got to build more homes but they've got to be the right

But like many politicians, the mayor is fond of a catchphrase.

And when it comes to housing, and the speed at which he can

That's why I always say, it is a marathon, not a sprint.

I've said, it is going to be a marathon and a sprint.

When it comes to homes to rent cheaply, though,

In the last year, your administration have built no

That is because we used the money given by the previous

So for the next year as well, there will be very few council homes

being built because the last mayor didn't give any money.

But you can understand, can't you, why people will be

frustrated when they say, look, someone is coming in, saying,

"This is affordable housing, I am a mayor for all people".

And actually for those at the bottom, they can see nothing

delivered in the first couple of years?

Oh, look, that is why I always say, it is a marathon, not a sprint.

I'm afraid it is going to take some time for Londoners to see some

How many are you going to build, do you think, by the end of your term?

I've been quite clear, I've not set a target

in my manifesto or elsewhere about the number of homes

I will build, for the simple reason, there are too many ifs and buts.

Londoners want him to start taking action on the severe housing crisis.

And it was only since the election that he started to parrot this idea,

"Oh, it's a marathon, not a sprint".

No, Mr Mayor, it's a sprint, because Londoners are homeless now

The mayor's housing strategy is now out for consultation.

It means all Londoners can have their say.

That's it from me so I'll say goodnight and leave

you with the weather with Nick Miller.

-- with Ben Rich. Good evening. The weather is going to take a turn for

the autumnal over the next few days, not really tomorrow, not a bad day

in prospect, some bright spells around and a few showers later,

should stay largely dried through the rest of the night with some

clear spells but I think we will see more cloud streaming in from the

West as the night goes on with temperatures no lower than 12 or 13.

Tomorrow morning, some spells of sunshine. As we go through the day,

more cloud starting to work its way from the West. The chance of one or

two showers into the afternoon. Some of those could be fairly heavy but

many places will stay just about right and temperatures where they

were today at 19 or 20. But Friday is a different prospect, we will see

outbreaks of rain, most likely to be heavily to the south of town with

temperatures at 17 or 18. Into the weekend, showers or longer spells of

rain at times, cool and windy weather. I

rain at times, cool and windy weather. I will leave you with the

National forecast and Nick Miller. Away from Hurricane Irma in the

Caribbean, our weather has probably been the quietest of the week but

things are about to turn more active towards the weekend relatively

speaking. A little bump in the isobars, a ridge of high pressure

keeping most places dry today but low-pressure waiting in the wings

and more to come across the weekend as I will show you. Overnight, more

cloud pushing into western areas and a few outbreaks of rain and showers.

The East will stay mainly dry with clear spells. This is where we will

find the lowest amateurs, into north-east Scotland, into single

figures, most of us around 10-14. Tomorrow, the story turns cloudier

and wetter from the