Man killed after brawl in street

Published on Wednesday 23 July 2008 11:18

A 23-YEAR-OLD man was stabbed to death in front of his girlfriend and her two young children in Granton last night.

A murder inquiry has been launched to track down the three men responsible for the "unprovoked attack" in Wardieburn Street West.

The attack happened at 10.30pm last night as the victim was returning home with his girlfriend and her children, one of whom was in a pushchair.

He was set upon by the men who stabbed him and fled up the street towards Granton Primary School.

The victim managed to struggle to the front door of a nearby block of flats, but collapsed and was rushed to hospital, where he died shortly afterwards.

Police are still hunting the murder weapon, and are appealing for anyone with information about the killers to come forward with information.

Detective Inspector Richard Thomas said: "We are positive at that time of night that somebody would have been drawn to the sound of a disturbance.

"This resulted in the death of a young man in front of two young children and his girlfriend which makes this crime all the more shocking.

"It's not the kind of thing we would expect to happen anywhere in Edinburgh.

"It's a very unusual crime in that it happened in the street in full view of numerous houses.

"We are still looking into the background but this would appear to be an unprovoked attack."

DI Thomas said it would be unusual for three men to be in that area at that time of night and is appealing to anyone who may have seen the group to get in touch.

The only description of the three men is that they are all white.

Police say the killers may have got into a car and discarded the weapon away from the crime scene and they are currently studying CCTV footage.