Police hold five after stabbing near Pleasance Theatre

Published: 11 February, 2011
by PETER GRUNER

FIVE arrests have been made by police investigating the stabbing of a teenager outside the Pleasance Theatre in Holloway.

A schoolboy aged 13, two boys aged 14 and a 15-year-old were arrested by police yesterday (Thursday). 

A 21-year-old man arrested on Sunday has been bailed until April 6.

The victim, Dan Whitlam, 16, was stabbed in the back with a screwdriver as he left the theatre in North Road with five of his school classmates at about 1pm on Sunday.

He had been rehearsing a school play for the Edinburgh Festival and was attacked just yards from the spot where Holloway teenager Ben Kinsella died.

Dan, a student at the independent Dulwich College in south London, was taken by London Ambulance Service to a north London hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He has now been discharged. Several other victims sustained cuts and bruises.

The seven teenagers were confronted just after they left the theatre. They were verbally abused and a traffic cone thrown at one of them.  

The students had been rehearsing a production of John Godber’s Teechers when they were attacked as they walked towards Caledonian Road Tube station.

Ben Kinsella was stabbed 11 times in five seconds as he celebrated the end of his GCSE exams with friends in June 2008.

His sister, the former EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella, has since campaigned against knife crime and advises the government on the issue. 

Anyone with information about Sunday’s attack should call police on 020 7421 0185 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.