The mum of a teenager stabbed to death near his home in Brockley has demanded justice for her son, after the charges against the schoolboys accused of his murder were dropped.

Shaquan Fearon, 17, was fatally knifed in the leg as he and his friend Junior Inneh walked to a youth centre in Turnham Road in September last year.

During the attack, which lasted less than a minute, Mr Inneh, then also 17, was slashed in the face as he tried to help Shaquan, who suffered a cardiac arrest and died at the scene as paramedics battled to revive him.

Two teenagers, aged 15 and 16, went to trial charged with murder, attempted murder and wounding with intent, but the case was dropped after two juries failed to return verdicts.

Shaquan’s mother Sharon Fearon has been forced to relive the details of her son’s death in the courtroom of the Old Bailey during each new trial since they began in January.

She told News Shopper: “It’s a straightforward case, this should have been finished a long time ago.

“My son needs to rest, his killer is out there walking free.”

News Shopper:

Shaquan Fearon died in September last year.

In the first trial jurors failed to reach a verdict, the second was abandoned for new defence representation, and the third – the first retrial - also resulted in a hung jury.

But Ms Fearon said she cannot understand why the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has dropped the case, given that the attack on the Turnham Estate was filmed on CCTV.

She described the footage, shown to the jury during each prosecution opening, as horrible, and asked: “How can you throw out a case like this?”

She said: “It’s a routine ABC case, so what is the problem?

“How can I live with this? How am I going to grieve?”

The emotional mother said there had been no justice for her son and begged for an end to her family’s suffering.

Within a month of Shaquan’s murder, another teenager was killed on the Turnham Estate, sparking a community meeting attended by hundreds of people.

With a panel of bereaved family members, police, councillors and MP Vicky Foxcroft, the speakers talked of their desire to come together as a community and end knife crime.

News Shopper:

Police guarded the Turnham Estate after Shaquan was killed.

More than nine months after that meeting, Ms Fearon said letting Shaquan’s alleged killers go free sends out the wrong message to young people carrying knives.

“What are you trying to show other people?” she said.

“You kill somebody, you walk free, it doesn’t make sense.”

The self-employed hairdresser said her business has collapsed under the emotional strain of the past 10 months.

She said life changed forever on the evening of Shaquan’s death, but she remains determined to see her son’s killer convicted.

Ms Fearon has enlisted the help of her MP Ms Foxcroft, and is set to meet with the CPS next week.

A spokeswoman for the CPS said they have written to Ms Fearon to explain the decision as to why they will not try for a second retrial.

She told News Shopper: “The CPS guidance states that only in ‘exceptional circumstances’ can a case proceed to a second retrial.

“Having carefully considered all relevant circumstances we concluded the case did not meet this benchmark and we have therefore offered no evidence in relation to the murder charge faced by both defendants.”