Tributes have been paid to a 20-year-old stabbed to death on New Year’s Eve near West Ham station.

The victim, known locally as Taofeek Lamidi, was pronounced dead in Memorial Avenue at 8.22pm after attempts by police officers and paramedics to resuscitate him.

He died in one of four fatal unrelated stabbings that took place in London on New Year’s Eve and early on New Year’s Day.

According to his neighbour Tristian Thompson, Taofeek was a former pupil at Eastlea Community School in Canning Town and would have turned 21 today.

The 31-year-old said he and his mother, a former social worker, had let Taofeek stay in their home in nearby Springfield Road the night before he was murdered.

“One of the local boys came and knocked [on] the door... just to inform us the worst had happened and they were trying to revive him,” he said.

The pair were “the first to break down at the scene”, he added, with the incident leaving many residents in a tight-knit community “lost for words”.

Earlier this afternoon more than a dozen of Taofeek’s friends laid flowers in his memory at the cul-de-sac beside Memorial Recreation Ground.

Though they did not wish to speak to the Recorder, Tristian described Taofeek as always “on his Ps and Qs” with a “big smile that lit up the hearts or environments of the people in the room”.

“The whole of the area is supposed to be celebrating,” said Tristian.

“It’s really, really sad.”

Kareem ‘CJ’ Khalid, 22, who attended Eastlea with Taofeek, described him as “like a brother to me”.

“Words can’t express how I feel right now but I know you’re in a better place looking down,” he said in a tribute to his friend.

Det Chief Insp Will Reynolds, who is leading the West Ham murder hunt, said: “This attack has robbed a young man of his future and robbed a family of their loved one.

“The victim was with a number of people at the time of the attack, and I urgently need to trace this group of young men.

“Memorial Avenue is a busy residential area close to West Ham station. I know that there were people in the area who witnessed the incident, and I also need them to come forward.”

Anyone who witnessed the stabbing or has information that may assist police should call the incident room on 020 8721 4005 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.