Man stabbed in the stomach outside Grove Avenue

A Pinner man was stabbed in the stomach in the early hours of Saturday morning, sending shockwaves through the village.

The 24-year-old victim suffered non life-threatening injuries after the attack outside Grove Avenue, Pinner, just before 2am.

Two men, aged 22 and 24, have been arrested on suspicion of causing grievious bodily harm (GBH) with intent and have been bailed until next month.

News of the stabbing has come as a surprise to residents in the area, but some are concerned that these incidents are no longer as infrequent as they used to be.

Ian Sutton, 31, of Cannon Lane, Pinner, said: "It seems that this kind of thing is happening a lot more recently than it ever used to.

"By and large Pinner is a safe place to live and go out, but incidents like this are becoming a real worry.

"Unfortunately I think this kind of thing is becoming more and more of a problem everywhere and as much as we might like to think Pinner is immune to it, it clearly isn't."

Before the start of the new year Pinner saw a spate of serious incidents.

Two separate fights outside The Victory in the High Street saw a handful of arrests for GBH, while in November a 24-year-old man was stabbed in the chest with a kitchen knife in Pinner Hill Road.

Also, a 44-year-old man is due to stand trial next month, after an alleged double stabbing in The George pub in Marsh Lane.

But not everyone feels Pinner has ever been as trouble-free as some might think, despite its quaint image.

Councillor John Nickolay (Conservative), a councillor for Pinner South, said: "Obviously this is very bad news for Pinner and everyone is horrified by this kind of incident.

"Although I hope this is an isolated incident I have to say that when I first came to represent the area 10 years ago it was apparent even then that the area had problems on Friday and Saturday nights.

"I, like many others, always thought it was a very quiet place but there is a lot more nuisance there than you might think."