Tragic teen Jaden Moodie was in top sets at school but ‘was excluded over social media posts weeks before he was knifed to death’
Pals said Jaden Moodie, who died in a targeted attack on Tuesday night, had been excluded from school weeks earlier
THE schoolboy stabbed to death in a targeted attack in Lawless London had been excluded from school weeks before he was killed, his friends said today.
Aspiring boxer Jaden Moodie was just 14 when his moped was rammed off the road by a black Mercedes before he was knifed in the back seven times in Waltham Forest on Tuesday.
Jaden's friends said he'd been excluded from Heathcote School in Chingford for activities outside school which teachers had spotted on social media.
One pal told : "He was excluded from school a few months ago. It was not for stuff done at school, he was bright and good at school, he was in the top sets for almost everything but it was social media things which got him in trouble."
It's thought Jaden was offered a place at a pupil referral unit but it's not known if he attended or not.
The revelations follow a Home Office report last year that found gangs were grooming vulnerable youngsters after they were excluded from school.
Jaden's local MP, Stella Creasy, said deaths of children in gang violence in London were increasingly linked to exclusions from school.
Neither the school or Waltham Forest council would comment on the exclusion today.
His family have insisted he had "absolutely no affiliation with gangs."
Jaden was the youngest victim in London since 14-year-old Corey Junior Davis was fatally shot in Forest Gate, East London, in 2017.
Corey's mum Keisha McLeod, 40, said her son's expulsion from school left him vulnerable to gangs and led ultimately to his death.
He died less than a year after being sent to a pupil referral unit from a shotgun blast to the head. His killers are still at large.
She said: "For him to go from school and into a PRU...this is what failed him I believe."
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On his Facebook page Jaden describes himself as a “trapper kid”, urban slang for drug dealer, while in one picture he appears making the sign of a handgun and in another he clutches a fistful of bank notes.
But his family said the teenager had no links with gangs.
His cousin Leon Green read a family statement yesterday beside Jaden's mother, Jada Bailey, near the spot in Waltham Forest where he was murdered.
He said: "Jaden had recently moved to London from Nottingham and had absolutely no affiliation with gangs.
"Focus needs to be on the fact that he has been brutally murdered in cold blood and deserves a fair chance of justice as much as anyone else in this situation.
"If there are people on our streets who are capable of killing a 14-year-old child, then no one is safe and they need to be caught and brought to justice."
Jaden's sister Leah, 18, said: "My brother was caring, loving. He never hurt anyone. He was 14."
Josh Grant, a family friend, said yesterday: "It could have been a number of things, the bike he was on, I know they're saying there's a lot of gangs down there but Jaden was a good kid, he wanted good things in his life.
"He might have fallen in with the wrong crowd - he was an outspoken kid."
The borough where Jaden died, Waltham Forest, has been blighted by gang crime, with the local authority ploughing £3 million over the next four years into a prevention programme.
Pals said Jaden lived nearby on the Beaumont estate in Leyton, East London — home to the notorious Beaumont Crew gang.
They have been battling the OC Crew, from the Oliver Close estate, since 2002, with at least nine murders attributed to the feud.
A close school pal told The Sun Jaden was killed because one of his older friends had an “issue” with another gang member.
Police recovered the car they believe was used in the attack on Wednesday night but are still searching for the suspects in London's fifth killing so far in 2019.
The bloodshed followed a gruesome 2018 in which 132 violent deaths were recorded in London, the highest number since 2009.
Anyone with information is asked to contact officers via 101 quoting CAD 5720/08JAN. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
DEATH TOLL: Lawless London's bloodshed in 2019
IN 2018, Met Police launched more than 130 murder investigations.
Knife crime spiralled out of control on London's streets, with cops left desperately trying to investigate the tragedies.
Last year's attacks meant, for a time, that the capital's homicide rate momentarily overtook that of New York.
And the teen killed on Tuesday night is the youngest apparent murder victim in London since 14-year-old Corey Junior Davis was fatally shot in Forest Gate, East London, in 2017.
This year, officers have already been faced with four murder investigations:
January 1: Charlotte Huggins, 33, was found dead in the early hours of New Year's Day. The mother was remembered by friends as a "beautiful person inside and out". A 34-year-old man has been charged with her murder.
January 1: Tudor Simionov, 33, was killed in a ferious brawl outside a Mayfair New Year's party. No arrests have been made.
January 4: Lee Pomeroy was killed a day before his 52nd birthday as he made his way to London for a day trip on the train on January 4. Darren Pencille has been charged with murder.
January 5: Sarah Ashraf, 35, was found at her Isle of Dogs home after concerns for welfare were raised with police. A 32-year-old man was charged with her murder.
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