Two teenage boys were stabbed to death last night in separate incidents.

In Manchester, emergency crews were called to Moston Lane, in Harpurhey, at 2.15am after Connor James Black, 16, was stabbed once in the back.

Paramedics found the teenager lying on a patch of grass 10ft from the main road and tried to treat him for the puncture wound but he died in the ambulance on the way to hospital, said a Greater Manchester Police spokesman.

Detective Superintendent Shaun Donnellan appealed for information about a hooded figure seen running from the scene and said two knives have been found and are being tested for DNA and finger prints.

He said the victim was “known to the police” but was not involved in any serious trouble.

“Connor was a member of a loving family,” said Donnellan. “He was stabbed in the back and had no defence against it.”

He said the police currently did not know of any motive for the killing. A post-mortem examination is to be held this evening but Donnellan said the wound was about one inch deep on the left shoulder and the blade appeared to have entered in a downwards motion. He added that CCTV footage was being reviewed.

Earlier today, speaking near the scene as they lay flowers in memory of the joinery student, brother and sister Jordan and Kirsty Scullion spoke of their shock.

Miss Scullion, 18, a beauty therapy student, said: “He was a loveable lad who was never really in trouble.

“He was respectful but there had been trouble at this party.

“Someone told me that Connor was thought to have said something to someone which he denied.

“It all then got out of hand and there was a commotion and he ended up getting stabbed.

“He wasn’t the sort of lad who would look for trouble but he would back himself up.”

After laying flowers Miss Scullion’s brother Jordan, 15, said: “He was a really good lad, I can’t believe this has happened.

“He had everything to live for and was a normal young lad, into football.

“I am still taking it in and trying to find out exactly what happened. All his friends are stunned.”

In London a 17-year-old Sri Lankan boy became the 23rd teenager to be killed in a stabbing or shooting in the capital this year. He was fatally wounded during a street brawl at 1.30am in Sumner Road, Croydon, south London.

A police spokesman said he suffered severe neck wounds during the fight, which involved up to eight people, and died three hours later at nearby Mayday Hospital.

A man aged in his 20s has been arrested in connection with death.

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