A teenager who was stabbed to death early yesterday made a terrified phone call to a friend as his killers chased him through the streets.

Ben Kinsella, 16, was murdered in York Way, North London, after being caught up in a fight that broke out at a party in a pub near his home.

Friends of the youngster said that he was the brother of the former EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella, 24, who visited the scene of his murder to lay flowers.

His death brings to 17 the number of teenagers murdered in London this year and comes in the middle of Operation Blunt 2, a high-profile Scotland Yard initiative to tackle knife crime.

Detectives said that they had an open mind on the motive behind the killing but as Ben was white and his killers are thought to have been black it will lead them to investigate a possible racial element.

The murdered youth had recently completed GCSE exams at Holloway School, Islington, and his head teacher, Bob Hamlyn, said that he should have had a bright future. Mr Hamlyn said that the teenager came from “a lovely family” that was hugely supportive of his school work. “He was a bright kid, very high achieving academically, and would have had some very good results to look forward to this summer,” he said.

Ben had been to a birthday party in Shillibeers pub, where it is believed fighting broke out between rival groups of youths and spilt on to the street. One of his friends, David Dugdale, 17, said that he had received a frightened phone call from Ben at about 2am. “He called me on the phone and just said, ‘Help’. He sounded really scared and then it just clicked off,” he said.

Another friend added: “There was a fight in Shillibeers. I don’t think that Ben was involved at first but then it got out of hand and was in the streets.

“I think Ben tried to run away but he was chased. I heard someone shout, ‘Get him, get him’, and then he was stabbed. I think he was stabbed in the back and chest and there was blood everywhere.”

A local resident heard someone cry out: “I’ve been stabbed.”

Police and paramedics were on the scene quickly. Ben was given emergency treatment at the scene before being rushed to hospital, where he died later.

Two 16-year-old youths were arrested a short time after the stabbing and were in police custody last night.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We believe the victim may have been involved in an argument with a group of black males in the street. The victim was then stabbed and the suspects ran away.”

A large group of friends and relatives of the murdered boy gathered at the scene of the attack to lay flowers and other tributes. A 16-year-old female friend said: “He was very bright and could do everything he set his mind on. He was never in a fight at school – he was a school representative and looked after the younger kids.”

Ben’s death has come after the funerals last week of two other recent victims: Rob Knox, 18, an actor who had a part in the new Harry Potter film, and Jimmy Mizen, 16, who was stabbed in the neck with a shard of glass at a bakery near his home in southeast London.

The body of the murdered schoolgirl Arsema Dawit was also buried last week in her native Eritrea.

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