Nathaniel Armstrong, 29, was killed 11 days after the Good Morning Britain forecaster spoke out about the crime on the show.
The victim of a fatal stabbing in west London was the cousin of a TV weatherman who has spoken out about knife crime on the air, it has emerged.
The victim, who was killed in Fulham on Saturday, was related to Alex Beresford, the Good Morning Britain weatherman.
Nathaniel Armstrong, 29, was killed just 11 days after Mr Beresford made an impassioned speech on the programme he appears on.
Mr Armstrong was stabbed in Gowan Avenue in the early hours of Saturday, around 100 metres from his home.
Mr Beresford’s agent confirmed the relationship as friends of Mr Armstrong remembered him as a “big friendly giant” who loved basketball.
The weatherman interrupted a live debate about knife crime on Good Morning Britain on 5 March.
He responded to calls by the chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales John Apter for more prisons by shouting over: “Prison doesn’t work though. It does not work.
“Some of these boys, they don’t fear prison, if you don’t change the environment it won’t change anything.
“If we don’t show them something else, you won’t change it, sorry.”
Detectives said on Saturday they were hunting a six-foot-tall, light-skinned black male in connection with the stabbing.
One of Mr Armstrong’s friends, who said his name was George, 30, said: “We don’t know how this happened.
“He’s got a lot of friends who live local to here. He was well-known in the local area.
“Everyone in the area would have know him from basketball.”
He added: “He was super friendly, a BFG. He looked super scary – six foot seven, big beard – but super friendly. It would shock you how friendly he was.”
Detective Chief Inspector Glen Lloyd, who is leading the inquiry, said: “We are appealing for information from those who were out and about in the area at the time of the attack and saw anything of note.
“My team is particularly keen to trace a light-skinned black male, approximately 6ft tall, who was seen near the scene at the time of the incident.”
Gowan Avenue was the street where TV presenter Jill Dando was shot in the head on the doorstep of her home on 26 April 1999.
