‘Senseless’: Two 16-year-old boys stabbed to death in double murder

THE victims of a double murder in Essex were two 16-year-old boys who had been stabbed to death, it was revealed today.

Neighbours heard shouting coming from a property in Regency Court in Brentwood and then someone “yelling out in pain” at around 1.30am yesterday.

Officers found three injured people, including two boys — named locally as Charlie and Frankie — who later died from their injuries.

A neighbour said he had tried to warn police about drug-dealing and anti-social behaviour in the area in recent weeks.

Alex Burghart, MP for Brentwood and Ongar, said: “This a very dark day for our town. To lose two 16-yearolds so needlessly and senselessly has left us all very upset.”

Alicia Jones, 18, Thurrock’s former youth MP, tweeted: “Brentwood isn’t a perfect area, it’s riddled with knife and drug violence.”

Essex Police said they believed the murders were isolated and targeted.

Eight men, aged over 18, have been arrested on suspicion of murder and were being questioned at police stations in the county today.