Teenager 'shot then stabbed'

A teenager was attacked with at least three weapons before being fatally stabbed in the heart and his body thrown into a river, police said today.

Anton Hyman, 17, was killed some time after getting into a mini-cab outside a fast food restaurant in Ealing at the weekend. A passer-by found his body face down under a bridge in the River Brent in Greenford yesterday.

Detectives and paramedics were called but the youth was certified dead and his body recovered by police frogmen.

Anton, who lived in Acton, was last seen shortly before 8pm on Saturday at a KFC outlet in Ealing Broadway. He was believed to have hailed a minicab and got into it alone. Police are urgently appealing to the driver to contact them.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said he had suffered multiple stab wounds and a gunshot wound to the back. He added: "The cause of his death was a stab wound to the heart."

Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton, leading the inquiry, said: "This was a vicious and prolonged attack. He was attacked with at least three weapons before he died."

Police say that Anton, who was 5ft 5in, black and of slim build, was not associated with serious crime.