Father Of 3 Stabbed To Death While Defending Daughter From Harassers; 2 Teens Arrested

A father-of-three was stabbed to death in London while he was defending his teenage daughter from a gang of young men who were harassing her.

Neighbors told local media that they saw the 14-year-old girl being annoyed by a group of young men on Monday evening. Her father, identified as 45-year-old Jamie Markham, rushed out of his apartment to defend his daughter from the group. That was when he was stabbed by one of the boys in the group, My London reported.

Paramedics rushed to the scene but despite best efforts, couldn’t save the man. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Recalling the incident, one of Markham’s neighbors told AOL, "I saw hooligans running up and down this way and that way. The police have got my dashcam because I was sitting in the car at the time. It was hammering down so you couldn't hear much of anything. I was shocked, especially seeing police doing CPR on him. I didn't realize who it even was until later."

Another resident expressed shock and had only good words to say about Markham.

"He was a family guy. He never bothered us, he just got on, and kept himself to himself and walked the dogs. He would come out of his place and be peacefully on his own. A day or two ago I saw him with his son chatting away. Yesterday everyone was just shell-shocked," the resident said.

Meanwhile, following an investigation, two boys, aged 14, were taken into custody Wednesday. One of them was arrested on suspicion of murder and the other on suspicion of conspiracy to murder. Both of them remained in jail as of Wednesday.

"We believe that James confronted a group of youths causing a disturbance and was stabbed as a result. The brutality of this response is beyond shocking and our thoughts are with James’s family who has been left devastated by their loss," Det. Insp. John Marriott said, The Guardian reported.

It wasn’t clear how many people were there in the gang. Police have asked anyone with any information related to the incident to call them on 101 giving the reference 5735/09AUG as indicated in The Guardian report.