AN impassioned plea for the public to help find the killer of Yusufu Miiro - one of the two young men killed - has been voiced by the young man's stepfather.

Yusef Nsubuga is desperate for police to find the person who left the 20-year-old to bleed to death in a stairwell at St David's Court, Walthamstow.

Mr Nsubuga, 49, said: "I know the killer won't come forward, but whoever knows him please report him to the police.

"I'm sure there are some people who have some small information who won't come forward. Some people are scared, but we have to do our best to catch the killer.

"I'm scared because I don't know why he killed my son and what will happen next - even my small children are scared and his sisters fear going to school."

Recalling the night he was told that Yusufu had been stabbed in Forest Road, Mr Nsubuga, said: "I could not believe it. What came into my mind was that Yusufu is not violent. He went to his girlfriend's house and someone stabbed him. He died at the scene. Paramedics tried to save him but they could not."

Mr Nsubuga thought there had been a car accident when the officer arrived at his home just after midnight with the news, "Yusufu is dead", because he said his stepson had "no enemies, only friends".

He added: "I don't like to think about his death because he couldn't fight back. Those are the questions I am asking myself - did he feel pain? Now I hear that his killer had a mask on his face."

Police immediately launched a murder hunt, and although a heavy police presence remains in St David's Court - where Yusufu was found bloodied and dying by his girlfriend last Thursday evening - the killer is still at large.

Keen athlete Yusufu moved to London from Uganda when he was 13, and after his mother died from colon cancer six years ago, he lived with his stepfather and stepbrother and sisters, Fahad, 16, Fahima, 13, and Laila, 11.

His family described the former student at Sir George Monoux College, Walthamstow, as a very polite and studious young man, who was studying hard for a BA in sociology and criminology at Middlesex University. His ambition was to become a police detective.

Family friend Fatima Kabasinguzi, 46, helped raise the children after their mother died.

She said: "He was a very clever boy, and always looked after his brothers and sisters. He was always there cooking for the young ones, protecting them.

"He wanted to help other youngsters by going to university and working for the police - but did not make it."

Senior lecturer in sociology at Middlesex University Dr Jon Mulholland said: "Yusufu was a quiet, polite and serious young man, with exemplary attendance and punctuality.

"He was popular within the group, and a close personal friend to a number of students within his cohort.

"By the nature of Yusuf's programme of study, the problem of violent crime is rarely far from our thoughts.

"We must now face the challenge of considering such questions in the sure knowledge that one of our own has been taken from us in the most shocking of ways."