Family in tribute to stab victim

The family of a 17-year-old youth stabbed to death in a street fight in south London have paid tribute to the "energetic and helpful" teenager.

Nilanthan Murddi's sister Santhiya said her parents were "destroyed" by their only son's death.

A 31-year-old man arrested in connection with Nilanthan's murder has since been released on bail.

Nilanthan was among six to eight people involved in the fight in Croydon early on Saturday.

The teenager died three hours later in hospital. A post-mortem examination found he died from a single knife wound to the neck.

The Murddi family are from Sri Lanka but have lived in Britain for more than 20 years.

Police want to contact a mini-cab driver, believed to have been in a blue Ford Mondeo, who stopped at traffic lights near the scene of the fight at about 0100 BST on Saturday.

Police believe his passenger, a white man, argued with him and "exchanged words" with Nilanthan and his friends who were standing nearby.

A Met Police spokeswoman said: "The suspect returned a little while later and was again involved in an exchange of words with Nilanthan and his friends, which resulted in the victim being injured."

Nilanthan was the 23rd teenager to be killed in a stabbing or a shooting in the capital this year.