On the night that a father-to-be was stabbed to death on his 23rd birthday in Hainault, council CCTV cameras were not recording footage, the Recorder can reveal.

Moses Mayele died near his home in Manford Way, on Friday, October 12 and his friend was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

Redbridge Council confirmed not all the cameras were in operation along the road due to a fault.

It said officers had known about the defect for a “few days” and were in the process of getting it fixed.

“The camera wasn’t working but it hadn’t been switched off – no one had turned it off,” a spokesman said.

“The Ley Street camera depot test the cameras every week to see if they are not working and then they book a cherry picker lift to take a look at them.

“They also do maintenance every week.

“The camera would only have been out of operation for a few days. The feed had not been taken down, the camera just wasn’t working properly due to a technical error.

“No one was involved in switching it off.”

In the hours and days after Moses’ death detectives from the Homicide and Major Crime Command tried to gather as much CCTV in the area as well as collecting witness statements.

They were also keen to collect CCTV from home security camera in Clayhall after a car was found dumped and set on fire in Park View Gardens.

Council leader, Councillor Jas Athwal said he has asked officers to “ensure all cameras in the borough are operational to prevent criminal behaviour”.

“Several cameras and infrastructure in the borough are scheduled for replacement as part of our £1.5million investment into CCTV,” he said.

“I am aware that several of the cameras in Manford Way were scheduled for replacement when the tragedy occurred, and therefore, several cameras were out of operation on the night.

“There was still adequate coverage in Manford Way, and those that were out of action have now been replaced with high definition 4G cameras.”