Leo Marcus: Murder victim's dad says pain is 'never ending'

The father of a man who was stabbed to death in south-east London has said the pain of losing his son is "never ending".

Cliff Marcus' son Leo was stabbed to death, aged 22, in a botched mugging attempt in Woolwich in July 2019.

"When I heard Leo had died, my heart was broken. I had nothing left," the 57-year-old said.

His comments coincided with Operation Sceptre, an annual week tackling knife crime in England and Wales.

The married father-of-five added: "This one killer has affected 80 to 90 people in my family alone.

"You spend 22 years raising somebody, and then all of a sudden that person is gone. There's just a void left behind."

As part of Operation Sceptre, Mr Marcus joined six uniformed and 12 plain-clothed Met Police officers on patrol in Croydon on Thursday.

They performed stop and searches and carried out a weapons sweep.

Local neighbourhood policing Supt Mitch Carr said: "In Croydon we've had issues over many years with lots of young people getting involved in gangs.

"It's been well over a year now since there was a knife-related murder in Croydon.

"Locally, there's still a lot of concern among the public around people carrying weapons and, unfortunately, there have been stabbings."

Acting police sergeant Jack Fordham added: "The purpose of this operation is showing the community and commuters who pass through Croydon that we are present in the area."

Croydon was branded London's knife crime capital in 2021 after recording five teenage murders - the most of any borough in the city.

A total of 30 teenage murders were recorded across the capital in 2021.

Youth worker Anthony King, 40, who joined the operation on Thursday, said: "We are working with our Met Police colleagues to turn the tide and hopefully reduce fear amongst young people."

Mr King is the chair of the My Ends project, a community group that brings together young people, local police and head teachers to address challenges facing the borough.

"Working with the police has gone a long way to building trust and confidence in the community and reducing serious violent crime," he added.

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