Teens deny murdering two 16-year-olds 'stabbed in Abbey Wood'

On Wednesday (May 31), during a hearing at the Old Bailey, a 15-year-old pleaded not guilty to the murders of Charlie Bartolo and Kearne Solanke.

He faces a trial from November 6 alongside a 17-year-old and 18-year-olds Hussain Bah and Alagie Jobe, who have also denied two counts of murder.

Charlie was allegedly deliberately knocked off a motorbike by a Nissan 4×4 containing five people just after 5pm on November 26.

The prosecution say he was attacked by a group from the Nissan armed with large knives in Sewell Road, Abbey Wood.

Charlie suffered at least six stab wounds, with the fatal blow penetrating his skull.

In the melee, the second victim, Kearne, is believed to have been seriously hurt by one of his own friends.

He was bundled into the Nissan and left a mile away in Titmuss Avenue, Thamesmead, it is alleged.

Members of the public found him bleeding from a chest wound.

Charlie Bartolo (left) and Kearne Solanke (right) were stabbed to death (Image: Charlie and Kearne)

Emergency services attended both scenes.

Charlie was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, where he died just over an hour after the attack.

Kearne was declared dead at the scene at 6.15pm.

Bah and Jobe, both from Greenwich, south London, appeared at the Old Bailey by video link from Belmarsh prison while their younger co-defendants, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, sat in the dock for a hearing before Judge Mark Lucraft KC.

Judge Lucraft confirmed the trial will be heard at the Old Bailey by Mr Justice Bennathan from November 6 and go on for up to six weeks.

He remanded the defendants into custody.

Previously, prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC described the killings as “mob-handed armed violence on the streets of London in the context of conflict between groups of young men”.