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Boy, 14, stabbed at skills fair
Justin Davenport, Crime Correspondent20 Nov 2008
A 14-year-old boy has been stabbed at the ExCeL centre in east London as government minister Tony McNulty opened a skills and careers fair for young people at the venue.
The teenager was involved in a fight with at least two other youths near the entrance to the centre in Docklands.
He was taken by ambulance to an east London hospital where his condition was described as stable. Another 14-year-old was held at the scene.
The attack took place just after midday when Mr McNulty was speaking at the fair. Mayor Boris Johnson was due at the event — set to attract 50,000 young people — this afternoon.
Reader views (25)
i made a comment earlier as 'ban knife crime'... did they close down SAE cos i couldnt see the sign for it as it was right by the stabbing area?
i thought they would check us when we went there, i swear they checked some, but not most peeps.
i think i was checking out the mirror thing then or having lunch.
- Kat, Kingston upon Thames, England, 29/11/2008 00:00
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it was so bad!! we were going to eagle heights and all of a sudden he was stabbed, o mg!
- Max Sophie Rosie, Uckfield, 26/11/2008 11:59
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wow i was at the skills fair this day i saw the boy who got stabbed on the floor but did not see the stabbing
- Anonymous, Brighton, 25/11/2008 15:02
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WOW, i was well close to it i saw the boy who was stabbed but i didnt see him get stabbed
- Jason, High wycombe, 21/11/2008 14:13
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our whole eyar group was there and we was very dissapointed to see the lack of secruity proved not only buy police and security guards but our own TEACHERS. friends of ours were in a terrible state of shock and crying. we asked to leave the unsafe premises at once but were refuesd and told it has happened once it wont happen again, not an approiate attitude to have and from a senior member of staff aswell. we are most dissapointed with our school. we all saw the body on the floor nobody did anything.
- Anonymous, london, 21/11/2008 13:05
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My daughter is a UK Skills participant, she is just 18 from a rural vlllage in staffordshire. this is shocking for me as her mum, she is so far away from home if anything happened to her it would take me three hours to get there. how can the school let these kids out with knives and why weren't they searched for weapons by ExCel? when i went to Tutenkhamun with my sons school last year we were searched as you would be at an airport. excel should not be putting our children in danger for the sake of a few pounds extra profit.
- Jayne, Stafford uk, 21/11/2008 10:46
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I was there, saw it, it was horrible
- Ashley, london, 21/11/2008 10:02
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my son and his friend as well as my nephew were also at this place yesterday and my son was with him untill the ambulance arrived. my son and his friends have not been offered any councilling and are very shook up. this should not be able to happen at somewhere like this. I rang his school this morning and they said they could not tell me if any thing was going to take place today as this happened yesterday, I think as a parent i should have been informed personally not just by my son and the newspaper.
- Mrs Julia Carroll, edgware, 21/11/2008 09:15
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I don't mean to make light of the boy's condition at all, but I have read (in British publications) that the crime rate in parts of London is equal to or greater than in some of the U.S.'s inner cities.
- Max W., Rockfield, U.S., 21/11/2008 05:50
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i was there today only in the morning, and i have to say the security was awful. I know a stabbing wasn't expected at an event such as this but still, i think they had 5/6 security staff trying to stop a hoard of 120 people.
- Adam Frost, Colchester, UK, 20/11/2008 23:24
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my daughter was there
she enjoyed the event and it was actually really good for her gave her a good idea for her future, she text me when it happened and have to say she was quite scared, brings this problem with knives closer to home when your child is in the area of the attack.
- Sheila, london, 20/11/2008 22:24
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they gonna close the event down?
- Rob, Wales, 20/11/2008 22:21
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Lies
- ------------, fgshgg, 20/11/2008 22:20
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i was there today and we got asked to open our bags as we were going to get searched, but they didnt look in our bags they just told us to move on. The security at skills london are to blame as NO student should have got through with a knife!
- Blah, Colchester, England, 20/11/2008 22:19
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What on earth is wrong with school kids these days? My son was taken to this event at the school's insistence - maybe kids get too many trips out and not enough discipline in the classroom. Maybe they need lessons in tolerating people they are not very keen on instead of dealing with their hatred in this manner.
- Niave Mother, Hemel Hempstead, UK, 20/11/2008 21:09
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Its unfortunate you can't go anyway these days without fearing for your safety. This event is meant to showcase skills to enable young adults to make informed choices about their careers.
- Anon, london, 20/11/2008 20:36
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i was there and to be honest they didnt check bags or make us walk through a metal protector which with the london schools there it should have been necessary.
- Jade Maine, surrey, England, 20/11/2008 20:15
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I was there, they had the whole place under lockdown, we couldn't leave
- Nick, England, 20/11/2008 20:04
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i heard of the stabbing at skills today, from some of my friends, the word spread quicker than the people could come and help. i didnt know the full story- just no blood and police tape around the scene. i only just read that it was a fight, and also it was a short cut to ready steady cook so we had to go the long way around.
i pity the guy who got stabbed, and it homes in on that knife crime is all around you. i hope the guy gets better.
- Ban Knife Crime, London, England, 20/11/2008 20:03
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The perpetrator should be sent outside to pick a tree branch with which to be flogged in a proper old school whooping. Unbelievable.
- Chris Price, London, 20/11/2008 19:53
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i was right next it when that it happened, he was holding his stomach
- Josh, Buxted, 20/11/2008 19:45
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i walked right past him i didnt realise he was stabbed until a few hours later. poor guy! 
xxxxxxx
- Felix Treadwell, east sussex, 20/11/2008 19:05
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It's all down to the inactivity of the Labour Party.
- Toby S, London, UK, 20/11/2008 18:25
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i was at Skills London today as a visiting pupil. i saw the stabbing take place and it was absoloutely horrible. that young boy was someones son and maybe even brother. it really hit me today how much this affects peoples lives!
- Aimee Browning, London, 20/11/2008 17:56
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I bet the Labour Party get blamed somehow.
- Keith Price, Luton, England, 20/11/2008 17:04
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