A man has been left devastated by the fatal stabbing of his friend, who he said was "like a brother", in Custom House.

Raish Ahmed, who has been described as very friendly and softly spoken, was stabbed outside the block of flats he lived in on the afternoon of Saturday, October 5.

Police found Raish, 50, with stab wounds and he was rushed to hospital, but he died from his injuries two days later. A teenage boy was found with a slash injury and neighbour, Mohammad Hasan, was also allegedly attacked. Both survived their injuries, which were assessed as not life-threatening.

Mohammad says he feels "totally hopeless", has found it difficult to concentrate at work, has been struggling to sleep at night and has attended counselling sessions for his anxiety and trauma.

He has spoken out against Newham Council as he does not feel like he and Raish’s family have been supported enough as they are still waiting to be rehoused away from where the incident happened.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands Raish’s family are staying with friends as they also have not been rehoused by the council.

A council spokesperson told the LDRS they have not been able to relocate Mohammad as there are a limited number of council homes available.

Raish Ahmed was fatally stabbedRaish Ahmed was fatally stabbed (Image: Metropolitan Police) Mohammad said: “The way the council has treated us after the incident is more heartbreaking and instead of supporting us they are just playing with us.

"I don’t feel like we’ve been fairly treated, the local authority has not treated us fairly, we are being discriminated against. They are not listening, they are not helping us with our state of mind.”

Mohammad explained that he and his wife feel scared whenever they go outside, and are constantly looking over their shoulder because they feel unsafe.

He said: "We are just feeling very scared like somebody is around us, we are [staring at] everybody which is not a good thing… it looks very unsocial but because of our anxiety, we are in a very worrying situation.”

Raish worked as a security officer at a museum, and Mohammad said he had a gentle yet funny personality, and was always talking to his neighbours and looked after his wife and their children.

Mohammad said: “ [Raish] was very much close to us like a brother, like family and every night we watched a movie together and went outside like a family.'”

A spokesperson for Newham Council said: “We are sorry to hear about the difficulties being experienced by Mr Hasan.

"Our housing team has met Mr Hasan on a number of occasions regarding his housing needs, and we will continue to provide support where we can.

"Unfortunately, due to the extremely limited number of council properties available, we are unable to offer Mr Hasan an alternative property at this time.”

* Daniel Whybrow, 46, of Hartington Road, Custom House, has been charged with murder, as well as grievous bodily harm against the teenage boy and threats to kill, and racially aggravated assault by beating, as well as the possession of an offensive weapon.

Whybrow is due to appear at Central Criminal Court on Monday, January 6 next year.