Two men were stabbed in separate attacks just hours apart in Barking and Dagenham yesterday (Sunday).

Officers called to reports of knife attacks say the incidents are not related.

The men, both in their 50s, were taken to hospital with injuries described as “not life threatening”, according to a Met Police spokesman.

At 12.40pm police were alerted to a man with a “puncture wound to the back” outside Barking station in Station Parade.

Later, officers were called shortly after 3pm to reports of a stabbing near the Roundhouse pub by Porters Avenue and Lodge Avenue, Dagenham.

Detectives from East Area CID are investigating both incidents with no arrests made so far.

Earlier this year the Met said violent crime in the capital was beginning to “stabilise”, even though there were more than 80 killings in the first seven months of the year.

London’s murder rate was then on course for a 28 per cent rise from last year.