MURDERED 5 MINUTES FROM HOME

2 students, 19, on night out among 3 victims of random knife attacks |Three killed & more are injured in evil spree | Shocked witness hears 'blood-curdling' screams

- MARTIN FRICKER ,MARTIN FRICKER, LUCY THORNTON, MATTHEW YOUNG, ABIGAIL HUNT

A WITNESS who saw people murdered by a knifeman in Nottingham said the screams were "blood-curdling".

Two students, both aged 19, and a builder in his 50s, were stabbed to death.

The students were said to be only five minutes from home as they walked back from a nightclub.

The builder was murdered as he got into his Vauxhall Vivaro van. The vehicle was then stolen and used to mow down three people near a bus stop in the city centre.

One of these victims was in a critical condition in hospital last night. Counter-terror police are among the officers probing the rampage. A man aged 31 has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the carnage in the early hours of yesterday.

There was a series of raids in the afternoon by armed officers wearing balaclavas.

Police were first called to the Lenton area of Nottingham at around 4am after reports of a double stabbing. The two victims, a man and a woman, were students at the University of Nottingham.

The man was named by pals as Barnaby Webber, from Taunton, Somerset. His grandad Phil Robson said: "His parents are in bits as you can imagine." Bishops Hull Cricket Club in Taunton said Barnaby's "memory will live on" and that he "made such an impact" since joining in 2021. The two students were attacked on the busy Ilkeston Road near their halls of residence.

A pal told the Mirror: "Barney was a friend of mine. He was walking home from a club. They just got unlucky. They were five minutes from home and got stabbed by some random guy."

The other student killed has been named locally as Grace Kumar, who is thought to have grown up in North London. The university said it is "devastated".

A witness told the BBC: "I had the window open and I heard awful, blood-curdling screams.