Murdered boy 'as good as Walcott'
A teenage footballer stabbed to death outside his school had as much potential as new England star Theo Walcott, his school principal has said.
Phil Hearne, 46, head of the London Academy in Edgware, north London, where Kiyan Prince, 15, studied, said reports from his club QPR were very promising.
He said Kiyan's family had been "devastated" and staff and pupils alike were in tears following the killing.
Mr Hearne appealed to the community to help police find the killer.
Asked to comment on reports that the youngster's potential was as great as Walcott's, he replied that he had heard similar reports.
He added: "The key thing to successful footballers is not just the skills they actually have but the attitude.
"The one thing that shines through all Kiyan's reports from QPR is his attitude.
"A lot of young people aspire to be footballers but unless you have that mental factor, you don't get very far.
"He was about to go on the youth team tour to Germany. They requested time off at the end of this academic year so that he could do that, which, of course, we gave."
Caretaker QPR manager Gary Waddock told the club website: "We're all devastated. The club is in mourning at the loss of one of our own.
Asked about comparisons to 17-year-old Walcott, he said: "He was in that mould. He was fast and had good close control."
Mr Hearne said everyone connected with Kiyan had been shocked by his death.
Phil Hearne said the school never had a problem with knives
"He has an older sister who is here and his mum, I believe, is a teacher. Mum will be absolutely devastated - a lovely family.
"When we discovered that Kiyan had died, I had very tough senior members of staff in floods of tears. Their reaction was honest, open and devastating to see.
"Coming here to school this morning, I walked through school and talked to as many youngsters as I could and it is very, very quiet.
"This is a school community that's very exuberant... we've got children sitting in corners either in tears or comforting someone in tears. Even youngsters that really wouldn't know Kiyan are upset and being very quiet."
Mr Hearne added that "routine and normality" would help the school, as a whole, to cope with the grieving process.
It was the school's first encounter with knife-crime, he said, which had led to "an amazingly tragic outcome".
Traumatised pupils
He said: "We were talking with our Parent-Teachers' Association and Parents' Forum two weeks ago about knives and how as a school community we deal with that issue.
"There's an irony here that then we're confronted with this less than two weeks later."
Any traumatised pupils will be offered counselling, he added.
Appealing for help in catching the killer, he said: "There's somebody out there who knows about this.
"No one has the right to take away somebody else's life. This 15-year-old local boy had everything going for him, either intellectually or sporting - nobody has a right to take away that life."
