The heartbroken family of a teenager knifed to death in a friend's living room have paid tribute to a "loving, caring son" who deliberately distanced himself from gangs.

Fico Dougan, 17, died after being stabbed just minutes after arriving at a house in Ockley Road, Broad Green, on Wednesday.

His father and sisters yesterday said they were still struggling to comprehend the loss of the popular student who filled their home with laughter and whose last words on Facebook read: "Love my mum so much, definitely owe her <3".

Dad Ernest, speaking at the family's home in Thornton Heath, said: "He was a loving, caring teenager. A very loving, caring son. He would do anything for his family.

"It just doesn't make sense. He always tried to stay out of trouble. He wasn't involved in gangs.

"Every teenager should have to right to go to college or go to a friend's and come home safe. Parents should not have to fear this happening."

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Fico Dougan with his sister

Fico had been to John Ruskin College, where he begun a BTEC in Business Management just a week earlier, on the day he was attacked.

He is understood to have been stabbed just ten minutes after arriving in Ockley Road at around 2pm. He died an hour later in hospital.

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with his murder.

Fico's eldest sister, Ewurasi Dorson, 36 said: "We did not want to believe when we heard. We thought maybe he had just been hurt and would pull through.

"Every day there is constant pain. It just cuts you up.

"Part of me thinks he is just about to walk through the door but I guess that's not going to happen."

"He was extremely caring. He had a very good heart and would never harm anybody. He was just a normal teenager who went to see his friends then came home to his family."

Effeh, 19, the youngest of Fico's five sisters, said his death had left a hole in the family home.

She said: "You can see how quiet the house is now he has gone. He was always trying to make everyone laugh.

"He would come in the room and say, 'I bet I can make you laugh in three seconds' and then he would count to three and you would laugh, even when you were trying not to.

"If you were ever angry with him for any reason you just couldn't stay angry."

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Flowers left by friends outside the house in Ockley Road where Fico was stabbed

She said Fico had taken conscious steps to avoid gangs and crime, adding: "If there was trouble he would back away. He never had a fight before.

Mrs Dorson added: "He hung around with girls more than boys because he was staying away from trouble. The boys around here are mad. Some of them are sick."

Fico, a former pupil at Archbishop Tenision's Church of England High School, loved bikes and had hoped to work in mechanical engineering.

Effeh said: "He loved tinkering with things, putting them together, taking them apart. He could fix anything and would do it all without the instruction manual. He was like a little handyman."

Mrs Dorson revealed her young children had been struggling to understand what had happened the boy they called Uncle Fico.

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Fico at his school prom

She said: "My oldest son, Selorn, who is eight, keeps putting Fico's name in online and reading everything.  It's difficult because he loved Fico so much.

"Fico would teach him all the youth terms and dress him up and make him look cool. He would babysit for me. 

"He was so good with the kids. And now I have to explain why Uncle Fico has gone when I don't even understand myself."

Police arrested a 16-year-old at his house in Mitcham soon after Fico's death.

He appeared at Croydon Youth Court on Friday charged with murder and will enter a plea at the Old Bailey on October 11.