Hunt for murderess who stabbed young woman to death just yards from Jacqui Smith's house

Dee Willis, 28, was stabbed in the neck and chest by a woman in south-east London on Tuesday night.

Police are said to know the identity of Ms Willis' killer but no arrests have yet been made.

The incident happened just a few hundred yards from the former home of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

After the attack, passers-by did their best to stem the flow of blood with pieces of cloth and tissues but she died in hospital hours later.

A bloody rag lies on the ground near to where Dee Willis was fatally stabbed

Police today revealed that the two women knew each other and had spent the day drinking together in local pubs

Jacqui Smith triggered a furious row earlier this year after she said she would not walk alone after dark in parts of the capital.

Despite the series of recent stabbings the Home Secretary appeared on GMTV within hours of the attack saying knife crime 'is not more serious' than it has been.

Neighbours said Ms Willis, from the Peckham area in south-east London, recently lost twins after suffering a miscarriage.

Local residents claimed that the area where the attack took place, Peckham High Street, was well known for violent and drunken behaviour.

One of the victim's neighbour's confirmed that she had recently miscarried twins: 'She lost twins about a month ago. I think she was around seven months gone.'

Police cordon off the scene of a fatal stabbing on Bellenden Road, Peckham, south London.

The controller of a nearby taxi firm, who did not wish to be named, added that it was a well-known trouble spot.

He said: 'It is happening around here almost every night. At around 7 to 8 o'clock, people arrive and start drinking in the streets.

'They lose their brains and it turns violent.'

New horror: Flowers on the pavement at the scene where Dee Willis was killed

A bar worker was walking past the scene of the crime shortly after 11pm and said she saw police talking to a man and a woman who both appeared to be distressed.

The incident took place close to where schoolboy Damilola Taylor was killed eight years ago.

The latest attack comes just a day after hundreds of teenagers took part in an anti-knife crime march in the wake of Ben Kinsella's murder.

Five hundred youngsters, dressed in white for peace, walked the two miles from Islington town hall in North London to the scene of the murder chanting 'stop the knives'.

Ben was the 17th teenager to be killed in London this year. 

The latest murder also comes as more than 1,200 people have been arrested during an unprecedented crackdown on knife crime in London.

A total of 528 knives were recovered as a result of 26,777 searches during Operation Blunt 2.

The blitz was launched by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair in response to a wave of killings, particularly among teenagers, in the capital. 

Sir Ian said the stabbing of Ben in Islington at the weekend showed 'the problem of knife crime is still with us'.

He said: 'I know the communities of London understand that this is something they and the police have to solve together.

'I promise that the Met is in this for the long haul and we will do everything in its power to stop these murders continuing.'

Mr Johnson said Operation Blunt is only one area in which the authorities are working to make London safer.

He said: 'Everybody is shocked by the level of violence we are seeing, particularly towards young people in London, and we must all work as hard as we can together to reverse this dreadful trend.'