Cypriot among victims in 'London murders'

A British Cypriot was killed last week in London amid a string of murders around the city, with police inspectors under additional pressure as the victim’s sister was also killed 28 years ago but nobody was charged.

Reports said 37-year-old Peter Petrou was found stabbed to death on July 16 just before 10:30pm outside a McDonald's in London.

Police said the incident took place in Kilburn, where Petrou was thought to have been involved in a fight with another male outside the McDonald’s branch in Kilburn High Road before the violence spilling into nearby Victoria Road.

A post-mortem exam schedueld for Tuesday July 21 was expected to shed more light in the case, while 

Petrou’s death comes nearly three decades after the body of his then-14-year-old sister Tracy Meade was found partially clothed with two stab wounds in the Grand Union Canal in 1992.

Tracy’s body was found following a ten-day search but no one has ever been convicted in connection with her death, according to British media. It was unclear whether police believed there was sexual motivation behind her death, a prank gone wrong, or bullying. Reports sadi the teenager had been found by a fisherman while a coroner reportedly ruled she died from drowning.  

The victim’s family issued a statement through Scotland Yard saying “we are deeply devastated and cannot begin to imagine how we are going to cope with this type of tragedy again especially if the perpetrator is not caught.”

“Peter was much loved by his large family and many friends. He was the life and soul of everything and the void he has left will be hard to fill,” a representative of the family said.

Seven murders in London in one week

Petrou’s death was one of seven murders in the British capital in just one week. Six hours after his killing, another man was taken to the Emergency Room with stab wounds following a fight in Enfield.

A week earlier, 19-year-old Muhammed Samir Uddin was fatally stabbed outside Crossharbour DLR station in Poplar. The following day Mixed Martial Arts champion Jahreau Shepherd was fatally stabbed at his 30th birthday party on the Black Prince Estate in Kennington.

In the early hours of Sunday, July 12, Dean Edwards aged 43 was shot in the back of the head as he returned from a pub in Penge.

Last Tuesday, 18-year-old Ahmed Yasin-Ali was stabbed to death in a car park by Maida Hill, while the following day 27-year-old Billy McCullagh was shot dead in Harlesden.

The detective inspector in charge of the Petrou case, Darren Jones, told British media that law enforcement officers were "going through hell” in carrying out an investigation.

“This senseless killing has left Peter’s family facing unthinkable grief. We are determined to bring those responsible before a court to face justice,” Jones said.