A 15-year-old boy has been stabbed to death in a park in Croydon, police said.

       Officers were called to reports of an assault in Ashburton park shortly after 7pm on Thursday and arrived to find the boy with stab wounds.

       The Metropolitan Police said the officers gave first aid to the boy before the ambulance service arrived, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

       The victim's family have been informed. Formal identification has not yet taken place and a post-mortem examination will be held in due course, Scotland Yard said.

       No arrests have been made.

       The killing is the 29th teenage homicide in London in 2021, which surpasses the 27 seen in 2017, which had been the highest in recent years.

       The previous peak was 29 teenage homicides in the capital in 2008.

       Met Police Commander Alex Murray said: "I am deeply saddened by every single homicide this year, and greatly concerned by those that have been teenage killings. Each one is a tragedy leaving behind heartbroken families and distressed communities.

       "My thoughts are with the victims and all those impacted. They are not statistics, not just numbers, they all have families, and they all should have had their lives ahead of them.

       "They and their families have been robbed of something precious and we should all be doing everything we can to stop this," he said.

       He added that the police were devoting "huge resources" to preventing homicides and said the Met was not "complacent" about knife crime.

       Police have asked anyone with information about the latest killing to call them via 101 quoting reference CAD 5443/30Dec.

       To remain anonymous, contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.