Police make history by charging three boys with murder of man BEFORE he had died.

Scotland Yard made history today after it charged three youths with murder before their alleged victim had died.

Two 14-year-olds and a 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will appear in court later accused of stabbing to death Rashid Naeem, the Met Police said.

Detectives decided to charge the teenagers while the market stall holder was still in hospital, because doctors said his injuries were fatal and he was going to die.

The 29-year-old of East Ham, east London, was stabbed two days ago at a street market in Upton Park, also in east London.

Hours after the boys were charged, their alleged victim was pronounced dead.

'The victim remains at an east London hospital, however his injuries will prove fatal and consequently the three youths have been accused of murder,' a spokesman said.

The force later issued a statement saying: 'Mr Naeem was pronounced dead this morning at Royal London Hospital. A post-mortem examination will be conducted in due course.'

Similar decisions have been made when a body cannot be found, like in the case of Mark Bridger who murdered five-year-old April Jones and hid her.

But Crown Prosecution Service sources admitted it could be a first in these circumstances

Yalda Badad, 25, a pregnant mother-of-one, was walking through the market with her two-year-old daughter when she saw the 29-year-old collapse to the ground bleeding heavily.

She said: 'People were trying to break them up because they thought they were fighting, we didn't realise he was stabbed until he fell and we saw the blood.

'He stood up again and looked kind of drowsy and then fell over again. The blood was pouring out.

'That man was working very hard for little money. They come at 4am when they open their stall, they are working very hard and somebody comes by, picks up their things and its the difference between life and death. It has scared everybody.'