A man has been charged with possessing a firearm after a probe into the murder of a bouncer who was killed when attempting to stop gatecrashers get into a New Year’s Eve party in Mayfair.
The charges have been brought against Imran Mostafa Kamel, 26, following a police investigation into the fatal stabbing of Tudor Simionov, which happened on Park Lane in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
A statement from the Metropolitan Police said: “The charges have been brought in connection with a separate incident at Fountain House on Park Lane, Westminster at around 05:36hrs on Tuesday, 1 January.
“The firearms offences are not directly connected to the death of 33-year-old Tudor Simionov or the other persons injured in the attack.”
No firearm was discharged during the incident.
A different 26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder on Wednesday and taken to a police station in central London.
The killing took place on one of the most exclusive streets in London. The party was at Fountain House, a luxury apartment block in which properties typically sell for millions of pounds.
It is described as a “prestigious Mayfair building” in a property advert by estate agent Harrods Estates.
Simionov had come to London “for a better life”, his girlfriend, Madalina Anghel, said.
He was working outside the private event when he was attacked at around 5.30am on January 1.
Anghel told the Evening Standard: “Right now I can’t think about him in the past. He was my future husband and we came to London from Romania for a better life.
“I can’t explain in words how much pain I am in.”
Two of his colleagues, aged 29 and 37, were also stabbed during the fight, as well as a 29-year-old woman. Their injuries were not life-threatening.
Simionov, who lived in Ilford, is the second person to die as a result of knife crime in the capital in 2019, after mother-of-one Charlotte Huggins, 33, was stabbed in Camberwell, south east London.
Anyone with information about the Park Lane killing can contact police on 020 8358 0300.