Lewisham High Street, which adjoins Courthill Road. Pic: Stacey Harris

A man has died this morning following an apparent stabbing on Lewisham High Street on Saturday night.

Officers were called to the area around 9.20pm following reports of a disturbance. They found the man, believed to be in his 20s, with serious injuries. He died in hospital in the early hours of this morning.

Three men have been arrested in connection with this incident and are currently in custody. Officers have yet to formally identify the deceased. The post mortem took place at Greenwich Mortuary.

Stewart Owadally, a staff organiser at Movement for Change who lives near the scene of the crime spoke with police shortly after the incident: “I went outside to speak to a police officer who said he’d no idea how long the cordon would be up for. When I asked what had happened, he said: ‘someone’s been stabbed in the head. It doesn’t look good for him.’”

Owadally said: “Paramedics were clearly trying to treat somebody and the police were assisting them with lights”.

The incident occurred near the Lewisham Library, which is less than one kilometre away from Europe’s largest police station.

Detective Chief Inspector Graeme Gwyn said: “I would appeal to anyone who was in the Lewisham High Street area around the time of the incident to contact my team. At this early stage we believe the victim was attacked by a group of males outside Lewisham Library. If you witnessed this assault, or the events leading up to or immediately after the assault, please call the incident room.”

Transport for London reported that the A21 Lewisham High Street remained closed from Courthill Road to Loampit Vale throughout Sunday due to last night’s incident. The crime scene remained in place for investigative purposes.

UPDATE: A post-mortem examination concluded that cause of death was severe blunt force trauma to the head and face and not a stab wound as previously thought.

The three men arrested in connection to the incident have been released on bail.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Incident Room on 0208 721 4805 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.