FIVE teenage boys have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a 52-year-old Cork man was stabbed to death outside his home in Enfield.
Irish construction worker Jack Barry is thought to have got into an altercation with a group of boys who were attending a nearby house party.
The clash came when he attempted to return home to his flat on The Broadway on Sunday, December 14.
Police officers believe the man – who was with his Irish girlfriend - was followed by some of the group as he made his way into his block of flats, where he was stabbed.
An ambulance and police officers arrived at the scene at around 7.50pm, where the man was pronounced dead shortly after 8.30pm.
A neighbour said: “If it is the guy I think it is, he was a lovely guy. He was really hard-working. He was a construction worker. I talk to him all the time.”
Detective Chief Inspector Neale Baldock of the Homicide and Major Crime Command is leading the investigation.
He said: "Our initial enquiries have established that there was a supervised party taking place at another address within the block and the group of males were trying to gain access to this.
"The victim and this group were not known to each other - what started as a minor verbal altercation has escalated into a shocking act of violence."
A post mortem examination, which took place yesterday, gave the cause of death as a stab wound to the chest.
Five boys, all aged 13 and 14, have been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Four have been bailed to return to an east London police station on a date in late January 2015, pending further enquiries.
A fifth boy, aged 13, remains in custody at an east London police station.
See More: Arrests, Enfield, North London, Teenagers
