Horror as man is stabbed at park

A teenager was stabbed to death in front of scores of sunbathing families enjoying the hottest weekend of the year.

Parents panicked when the attacker, described as a Jesus lookalike, stabbed the 19-yearold man.

It happened in the small Buckinghamshire market town of Chesham at 4pm yesterday. Waving a large knife in the air, the man walked up to the teenager in the Lowndes Park beauty spot before plunging the knife into his body in front of terrified parents and their children.

"It was horrible," said a father of two. "There was blood everywhere-The man had been behaving strangely. I noticed him because he had long hair and a beard and looked like Jesus.

"He just walked up to this man and stabbed him. The park was packed with families at the time."

The victim, who has not been named by police, was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

A spokeswoman for Thames Valley Police said a 22-year-old man had been arrested and would be questioned by murder squad detectives today. They are able to hold him for up to 24 hours. "A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder following an incident in Lowndes Park," she confirmed.

"As I understand it there may be some mental health issues. We don't know how serious they are as yet.

"Detectives are expected to spend most of the day questioning him once those question marks over his mental health have been satisfied."

She said the victim was a local man. It is not known whether he was with anyone else at the park. "His family have been informed and an identification process will take place at some stage today," the spokeswoman added. "Police were called to the park by a member of the public after the 19-year-old was stabbed. An inquest will be opened and adjourned at a later date."

A large number of witness details were taken and an area of the park closed for forensic science investigations.