Police arrest youth in Hornchurch after witnesses see him with a machete.

Parents in Hornchurch taking their children to school near Ardeligh Green Road watched in horror as an 18 year old youth was seen carrying what witnesses describe as a ‘machete’.

Police promptly arrested the youth as it is believed he threw the weapon into a garden along Ashlyn Grove just before 9am this morning.

One local lady who was bringing her daughter to school and wished to be remain anonymous, told the Havering Daily: “It was frightening to see, we had children with us and there was this teenager with his college lanyard round his neck carrying a machete!”

A Met spokesperson told the Havering Daily: “Officers stopped an 18-year-old man in Ashlyn Grove, RM11 at 08:58hrs on Monday, 16 November. He was arrested for being in possession of a bladed article and was taken into custody at an east London police station.”