A Tunbridge Wells man has been sentenced to 21 years in jail for murdering a teenager in South London last year.

Paul Akinnuoye, 20, of Cobbetts Ride, Tunbridge Wells, was convicted at the Old Bailey of murdering 19-year-old Jordan Wright on Hervey Road, Blackheath, on April 19, 2017.

The college graduate, who was due to start an apprenticeship in the construction industry when he was attacked, died after being stabbed in the chest.

Police were originally called at approximately 8.10pm. Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended and found Mr Wright badly wounded. He later died in hospital.

Although they were not friends, in the hours leading up to the assault, Mr Wright and Akinnuoye had both been part of a group chat on ‘WhatsApp’ which developed into an argument between the two, escalating to the point that they made arrangements to meet for a pre-arranged fight to settle their differences.

CCTV footage prior to the incident captured the two meeting up and showed Akinnuoye being physically held back from Jordan following an exchange of words.

The group entered the park where a fight ensued, during which Jordan was fatally stabbed in the chest. Helped out of the park, the teenager collapsed at its entrance after saying: "I feel unwell".

Local residents came to his assistance, giving first aid until the arrival of the ambulance who took him to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where he died at 9.24pm.

A post-mortem held at Greenwich Mortuary the following day gave the cause of death as an incised wound to the chest. Other stab injuries were also found on his body.

The murder weapon was recovered from shrubbery within the park.

Detective Inspector Jo Sideaway said: "This murder left Jordan's family devastated and was a big shock to the local community; seemingly over a minor dispute between two young men. While nothing will ever make up for this needless loss of life, I hope that today's sentencing will bring some closure for his loved ones."

In a victim impact statement submitted to the court, Mr Wright's mother, Katharine Alade, revealed that the trauma caused by her son's death had left her feeling so distressed that she had contemplated suicide. She said: "You don't realise until it happens to you how far reaching one moment of madness can be and what an impact it can make on your life forever. There is not one day when I don't shed tears. I didn't think it was possible to feel such physical, psychological or mental pain until that fateful day last April.

"I know I will never be the same. It is now nearly a year later and I still feel as depressed as I did the day I went to Queen Elizabeth's Hospital in Woolwich to be told that my son did not make it.

"I could have dealt with him dying at such a young age through illness, but not by the hands of a boy the same age as him, and over what?" she asked.