A teenager with the nickname "Mischeif" was stabbed to death by a gang of hooded youths on bikes just yards from his home.

Frederick Moody, 18, became the 21st teenager to be murdered in the capital this year after he suffered knife wounds to the stomach.

Neighbours from the £1 million terraced Victorian houses in Stockwell, southwest London, desperately tried to save the teenager after he staggered along the street before collapsing outside his home.

He had spent the day at a water fight at a fun fair in Holland Park with friends before returning to his house in Guildford Road.

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His mother, Mary, who had been cooking him his evening meal, received a knock on her door at her top floor flat from a neighbour who discovered his body. She went outside and saw paramedics trying to resuscitate her son. She was today being comforted by friends.

Police were investigating the possibility that a street fight may have led to a row and then, later, the stabbing. A 16-year-old was arrested this morning in Brixton over the killing.

It is believed Frederick, known as Freddy, was attacked by a gang of youths who had been waiting near his house, near the homes of Edward Garnier QC, the Tory Shadow Minister for Justice, and Will Self.

A boy, who did not want to be named but knew Freddy said: “We reckon the fight started between gangs. There is violence all the time around here.”

Vida Oblitey, a neighbour who described Freddy as like a son to her, said she had been with his mother when he died in hospital last night. She said she had seen him in the area with a wet clothing after the water fight.

She said: “Freddy was a very handsome boy, a lovely boy, and whoever has done this has taken the only son away from a very happy family.”

Ms Oblitey, 52, added: “I had just come home from work and got a call from my kids, they said Freddy had been stabbed.

“After rushing back I phoned Freddy's mother, who I was with until 5am this morning. I had been at the hospital with her and we were there when it was confirmed he had died.'”

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