An investigation has been launched after a man was stabbed in Goodmayes in the early hours of this morning (Friday).

Police and the London Ambulance Service were called at around 2.20am to reports of a fight in Goodmayes Road.

Officers found a man in his mid 20s suffering stab injuries.

He was taken to hospital and the force said his injuries were not believed to be serious.

Redbridge CID is now investigating the incident, which is the fourth stabbing in the area in the past week following the murder of 57-year-old Yogesh Desai in the early hours of Sunday.

A few hours after Mr Desai was fatally stabbed in Richmond Road, Ilford, another man in his 20s was injured in a separate attack just streets away in Pittman Gardens, Ilford.

And in the early hours of Tuesday, a 15-year-old boy suffered a leg injury in a stabbing in Kingston Road, Ilford.

Danny O’Brien, founder of Redbridge-based campaign group Anti-Knife UK, called for an urgent weapon amnesty following Sunday’s attacks amid fears knife crime could be on the rise in Ilford.

He told the Recorder: “We can’t brush it under the carpet. Knife crime does spike now and then.

“If we have an amnesty, every knife that comes in is a knife that’s taken off the streets.”

But Redbridge deputy borough commander Det Supt Mandy Beacher moved to reassure residents, and said knife crime had fallen in the borough by 17 per cent over the past year.

She said: “Unfortunately there have been a number of incidents during recent months involving the use of weapons.

“I would like to reassure the public that these are all unconnected.

“Redbridge Police continues to treat knife crime seriously along with all other violent crime.”

Operation Equinox, the pan London operation to tackle violence, includes activity to reduce knife crime.

Det Supt Beacher said tactics such as weapon sweeps and knife arches had been successfully used in Redbridge.

“I would like to reassure residents and visitors that Redbridge remains one of the safest London boroughs,” she added.

A 30-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and later bailed following Mr Desai’s death on Sunday.

Anyone with information about the incidents should call Redbridge police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.