Five men charged with murder after Leicester stabbing death

Five men were due to appear at Leicester Magistrates' Court on Monday after police charged them with the murder of Arad Niakan, 24. Leicestershire Police said the case centred on London Road, near Saxby Street in Leicester city centre, and followed a fast-moving investigation that also led to arrests of six men aged between 18 and 33.

Niakan died after being stabbed on Wednesday after suffering serious injuries to his stomach and chest. Police said an officer in a marked car was flagged down by an injured man near the scene, setting off the response that later brought detectives back to the same stretch of road. He was taken to hospital, where he died.

Detectives said CCTV helped trace a suspect’s movements and a weapon was recovered during the investigation. Alongside the six men arrested in connection with the killing, police also detained two men aged 52 and two women aged 43 on suspicion of assisting an offender. All four of those older suspects have since been released on bail.

The sequence of arrests and charges has drawn fresh attention to how quickly serious knife cases in city centres can move from street violence to court. Leicester has seen that before, including the 2021 killing of Abdirahim Mohamed and the Boxing Day stabbing of Raju Modhwadia, cases that also turned on rapid arrests, surveillance footage and evidence gathered in the hours after the attacks.