The heartbroken family of a teenager murdered just yards from his home in Custom House have said they still cannot believe what happened.

Danny O’Shea, 18, was found with a stab wound in the middle of the road in Gill Avenue on Friday evening. Police believed he may have been chased by a group of men shortly before the attack.

Jim Blewitt, the partner of Danny’s mother Julie, said the family was still coming to terms with their loss.

But he said they had been helped greatly by the support of the community and the police since the incident.

Mr Blewitt said: “Danny was a popular boy and he’s got friends of every race and creed.

“We are just trying to be as normal as possible for the rest of the family. He was like a big brother to them.

“He was interested in cars like a lot of boys his age. He had just got his provisional drivers’ licence.

“It’s been hard for us all.”

Mr Blewitt described their shock after Danny was found lying unconscious in the middle of Gill Avenue.

He added: “We got a knock on the door from a young lad across the road and Julie came out.

“She called me out of the kitchen. She was just shouting, it’s Danny, it’s Danny. He was lying on the floor and we were trying to get his coat off to see where he had been stabbed.

A family friend then attempted to resuscitate Danny before the emergency services arrived at the scene. He was pronounced dead at 6.30pm.

A post-mortem examination, which took place the following day, gave the cause of death as a stab wound to the neck.

Police have since appealed for people to come forward with any information. Mr Blewitt also echoed officers’ calls for calm in the wake of the incident over fears of revenge attacks.

People were still adding to dozens of floral tributes, photographs, and lighted candles, outside Danny’s house on Monday.

Mr Blewitt added: “We would like to pay a great big thank you to our friends and family.

“So many bad things are said about this area but people I have never known or met before have come up and paid tribute to Danny.

“They’ve given Julie a lot of comfort.”