Police seek witnesses to teen's murder

By Tim Castle

LONDON (Reuters) - Police appealed on Sunday for witnesses to help find the killer of a teenage boy "of immaculate character" who died the day after his 16th birthday.

Jimmy Mizen bled to death following a frenzied attack after going to a bakers' shop in south east London on Saturday morning.

Mizen, who had gone out to buy his first lottery ticket, was the 13th teenager to be killed in London this year.

He died in his older brother's arms, his throat slashed by glass, after an unprovoked fight with a male youth who smashed his way into The Three Cooks Bakery in Lee.

Police said the youth had challenged Mizen to come outside the shop for a fight, and when Mizen refused, picked up an advertising board and smashed his way into the bakery.

"Jimmy was a person of immaculate character ... he is a victim of an entirely unprovoked and vicious attack," Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons told reporters.

"This offence is not gang-related, this offence does not involve knives, this is about a very violent ... unprovoked attack on a decent young man," he added.

"For the sake of the family and this investigation I would like people to come forward with information."