A youth has been convicted of the killing of 18-year-old Bilal Mirza from North Kensington.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted of manslaughter at the Old Bailey on Thursday (July 16), police said. He will be sentenced on August 20.

Bilal died after being stabbed in the leg in Salisbury Street, in the Lisson Grove area of Marylebone, at around 10.40pm on January 8. He was treated by paramedics at the scene but died en-route to hospital.

His cause of death was given as a stab wound to his right thigh that caused massive blood loss.

Police said the court heard the defendant say he had acted in self defence as Bilal, from Dowland Street, Queen’s Park, was intending to rob him. The court was told the 16-year-old and Bilal were known to each other and even described as friends.

However, the defendant claimed he became aware that Bilal planned to rob him of money and his iPhone and that his arming himself with a knife was a means of self defence.

Witnesses to the tragedy say during that altercation the defendant lunged at Bilal, stabbing him in the leg.

The 16-year-old left the scene and eventually returned home, before handing himself in to police at Paddington Green police station.

He initially claimed to police that the knife he used was a “little tool” with a 3-4in blade, but it was never recovered.

The pathologist performing the post-mortem examination, however, believed the blade that inflicted the fatal wound was much larger at around 5ins-long and 2in-wide - like a kitchen knife.

In court under cross-examination, the defendant stated that Bilal had taken a knife to the scene and it was this knife that he took from the 18-year-old and used to stab him.

The defendant also claimed he had been trying to avoid Bilal, who had been having dinner at his grandmother’s that night, but the prosecution said he would have been aware of where the victim was and took no action to take an alternative route home.

Detective Sergeant Michael Hamlet from the Homicide and Major Crime command, said: “This case demonstrates the utterly devastating effects that knives can have on London communities.

“Bilal, a much-loved son, grandson and brother, had his life tragically cut short and a schoolboy is set to be sentenced for his death.”