England fan murdered

An England soccer fan was stabbed to death as he tried to fight off a thief in Lisbon early today.

An England soccer fan was stabbed to death as he tried to fight off a thief in Lisbon early today.

The 28-year-old man, believed to be Stephen Smith, from the West Midlands, was killed in an attempted robbery as he celebrated England's victory over Croatia in Euro 2004.

A Ukrainian national who lives in Lisbon has been arrested in connection with the death.

Police said the victim was stabbed in the heart near Rossio Square, a downtown area of the Portuguese capital where thousands of fans celebrated peace-fully through the night. He was taken to hospital at 4am local time but died from his injuries.

The 31-year-old suspect, who is understood to have been in Portugal illegally, was arrested at the scene.

Portuguese police said this was an isolated incident which occurred after a Ukrainian man, well-known as a pickpocket, moved in on a small group of fans as they ate in a restaurant on a street off Rossio Square.

Haskell Noah, from Golders Green, witnessed the tragedy. He said: "There were about 200 England fans sitting around at tables having a drink and a laugh.

"This guy had been coming up and down for hours trying to take people's wallets and everyone was fed up with him."

Mr Noah, a 35-year-old delivery driver, added: "We'd been telling the police about him but they didn't do anything.

"Then one of the people at the table he had been pestering got cross and told him to go away.

"There was a bit of jostling and the robber ran off, but he came back a few minutes later and went straight to the same table. There was a scuffle and I could see the flash of a blade.

"The man fell to the ground and people around him started screaming. Police came running across to arrest the attacker as he ran away.

"They got him on the ground and got the handcuffs on him."

Today the Foreign Office confirmed the man's death, but would give no further details other than to say his family were being informed.

Although England fans have been involved in fighting in the Algarve, there have been no serious incidents in Lisbon until now and the matches have been largely trouble-free.

Before the stabbing last night the mood in Portugal was one of jubilation.

Thousands of England fans poured into Rossio Square after England booked themselves a place in the quarter-finals with the 4-2 victory over Croatia.

The party atmosphere in Lisbon was mirrored in the previously troubled hotspot of Albufeira, on the Algarve coast, where hundreds of joyous fans danced the conga on the nownotorious Strip, the scene of clashes with riot police last week.

Police spokesman Eduardo Alberto said he hope the fatal stabbing in Lisbon would not spark a violent reaction from England supporters.

He said: "We want to thank the English fans for their excellent behaviour and we regret this death. I don't believe there will be a reaction.

"This person had nothing to do with Euro 2004 and we don't believe the English fans will have any adverse behaviour against any person. This particular incident was not related to their celebrations."

He said he believed the group of English fans targeted by the pickpocket had been about 10 people. Mr Alberto added: "The celebrations were excellent and there were no particular problems apart from this."

Another police spokesperson said: "This was the kind of thing that could have happened in Lisbon on any night of the year."

The suspect, initially said by police officers to be Croatian, was later named by sources as a Ukrainian, Vadym Abramov. He is believed to have been living in Aveiro, 25 miles south of Porto in the north of Portugal, until his authorisation to stay in the country ran out last October.

In recent months he is believed to have been living homeless on the streets of Lisbon.

He will appear in court today when a judge will decide whether he faces a charge of murder.

This is the first death of an English supporter at a major tournament since a fan was fatally stabbed during the World Cup in Italy in 1990.