Seven teenagers were questioned by police yesterday after a 16-year-old boy was chased by a mob and stabbed to death in a London street lined with £1 million homes.

The murder is the fifth involving black youths in London in the past few weeks.

Witnesses say that teenage girls egged on the attack with shouts of “Kill him, kill him” before the victim, named last night as Kodjo Yenga, was surrounded. At one point Kodjo raised his arms to fend off blows from sticks. The suspects being held include four 13-year-olds, two 15-years-olds and a man aged 21.

Last night police sources said that Kodjo had been a “nice lad” and a promising A-level student who had never been in trouble with the police. His family live in North Kensington close to Ladbroke Grove. He was a student at St Charles Catholic Sixth Form College in North Kensington, West London.

The attack took place in Hammersmith Grove, West London, at teatime on Wednesday on the edge of a quiet residential area known as Brackenbury Village.

The street links Shepherds Bush to Hammersmith Broadway and would have been busy with pedestrians and traffic. Residents include the broadcasters John Humphrys and Jeremy Vine. The actor Ralph Fiennes lives 100 yards from the murder scene.

One witness, Tom Grimes, 42, said: “There were about 15 black youths hanging around by the shops. There were girls and boys aged 15 or 16 wearing school blazers. They were getting very rowdy and the girls especially were shouting aggressively.”

Mr Grimes, an IT worker, said: “Suddenly I heard very high-pitched screaming from the girls. I looked up and saw another youth who was bigger-built come rushing into the street with a dog. He went across and booted a blue BMW causing the alarm to go off. It was obviously for show.”

Kodjo started walking back towards the crowd. Mr Grimes said: “They went wild. The girls were shrieking and then the boys started chasing him up the road.”

Minaxi Patel, 48, who works in a convenience store in Hammersmith Grove, said that she saw Kodjo being followed and insulted by the group. She said: “There was a group of boys and about three girls. This black boy was in front of them. It looked like he was trying to get away. They came up to our shop and picked up a pipe, which they threw at him.

“The girls were screaming, ‘Kill him, kill him’. The boy had a dog with him. He kept crossing the road. I thought the dog would get run over.”

A resident, who did not want to be named, said that some of the gang had armed themselves with 3ft wooden sticks from a skip. He said: “It was almost like a lynch mob. They were all ganging up on that one poor lad.”

A resident, Mariam McLeod, was in her kitchen when she heard a girl shouting. She said: “I opened the window and then I saw this young black man lying on his back in a pool of blood. The girl was still there — she was crying and was on the phone.”

Fatal toll

Other young victims in the past six weeks include:

— James Smartt-Ford, 16, shot dead at an ice rink disco in Streatham, South London, on February 3

— Javarie Crighton, 21, fatally stabbed in Peckham, southeast London, on the same day

— Michael Dosunmu, 15, shot dead when gunmen broke into his home in Peckham on February 6. Police believe he was the victim of mistaken identity

— Billy Cox, 15, shot in his family’s flat in Clapham, South London. May have been killed by rival drug dealers

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