A 15-year-old boy has been charged with murder after a 22-year-old man was stabbed in a city centre.
Tragic Tom Webb was found with fatal wounds on St Peter’s Street in Derby at 8.30pm on Tuesday (19/1).
He was rushed to hospital but despite the best efforts of medics nothing could be done to save him and he later died.
Today (Fri), tributes were paid to Tom, who lived in Alvaston, Derby, as his family released a picture of him.
Sharing a picture of her and Tom on her Facebook page, his girlfriend Roxanne Gardiner, 19, wrote: “You were my best friend and my soulmate, words can’t even describe anything right now but I miss you like f**k babybear I’m never gonna meet anyone like you ever again.”
Friends also paid tribute to Tom on his Facebook page, with Nichole Spencer writing: “When you find out the guy who was snached (sic) away too soon was someone you use to be a teenage dirt bag with!!! RIP”
Another pal shared a photo of Tom on a night out and added: “This is how I’ll always remember you dude. Smiling away. Can’t even believe you’re gone. I heard the news… But didn’t know it was you til after work. Can’t believe it… R.I.PTom. You really were one of a kind.”
Jack Chapman wrote: “Live your lives to the fullest cause it can all be ripped away too soon. 22 is no age to go and my thoughts go out to your friends and family Tom. You were such a good guy and even though I haven’t seen you in a long time, it’s still left me in complete shock knowing something like this could happen. RIP man.”
Today (Fri), Derbyshire Police charged a 15-year-old boy, who can’t be named for legal reasons, with Tom‘s murder.
The teenager was due to appear before Southern Derbyshire Magistrates Court yesterday morning.
A 16-year-old boy who was also arrested on suspicion of murder has been bailed along with two men aged 74 and 54 who were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.
A 17-year-old boy and a 22-year-old man who were arrested in connection with the incident have also been bailed pending further inquiries.
A spokesperson for Derbyshire Police said: “A teenage boy has been charged with murder following the death of a 22-year-old man in Derby earlier this week.
“Tom Webb, from Alvaston, suffered a fatal stab wound after an alleged altercation near Costa Coffee, in St Peter’s Street, on Tuesday night.”
Forensic officers were combing the streets on Wednesday morning (20/1) as police closed off parts of the city centre.
They could also be seen lifting drain covers and using scooping equipment to pull out contents.
A single bouquet of red flowers has now been left tied to a lamppost outside Lloyds Bank in the city centre close to where the incident happened.
A 17-year-old girl, who came to pay tribute to Tom, said: “By all accounts he was a lovely person, I just can’t believe that it happened right here in the middle of Derby.”
Another pal added: “I knew him through a few people I went to school with and he was a lovely lad.
“I can’t imagine him getting mixed up in anything so it is truly awful that he has been attacked and lost his life in this way.”
Local trader Kevin Mallender, 55, who runs a food van in nearby East Street, said: “As a father myself, my heart goes out to the family of the lad that has died.
“I arrived as normal on Wednesday and was obviously unable to set up.
“By the time the cordon was lifted, it was too late for me to set up.”
Piotr Kowalski, 34, who saw the cordon while in his way to work, added: “It is shocking to hear someone has been killed. My thoughts are with his family.”
And Keith Joyner, 61, who lives in the city centre, said: “It is obviously a serious incident and my thoughts are with the family of the poor lad that has died.”
