Met pledges a crackdown as knife and gun crimes surge
Knife crime and gun killings have risen sharply in London despite an overall drop in crime across the capital in the past year, Met figures reveal.
There were 25 gun killings in the year to last month, up nine on the previous year's total, and a 5.7 per cent increase in knife crimes, amounting to an extra 723 incidents and taking the total number of offences with a blade to 13,341.
There were an extra 81 victims of serious youth violence, taking the total for the year to nearly 7,000, while robberies rose by more than seven per cent.
The number of killings stood at 135 compared with the previous annual total of 120, and rape rose by 16.7 per cent - an extra 473 victims.
Overall crime fell by nearly one per cent, with the 822,596 offences representing a 17 per cent decline on the equivalent figure a decade ago. One reason was the big fall in violent offences that caused injury - there were 4,330 fewer of these crimes, representing a 6.1 per cent fall.
The new figures come only days after 15-year-old Negus McLean was fatally stabbed in Edmonton - the fifth teenage murder victim in London this year - and the conviction of two men for the machine gun murder of 16-year-old Agnes Sina-Inakoju in a Hoxton takeaway last April.
They also follow the shooting of five-year-old Thusha Kamaleswaran and another innocent bystander, a 35-year-old man, last month when three youths on bicycles chased two youngsters into a Stockwell shop and opened fire.
Commander Simon Pountain said the Met was "delighted" by the overall reduction in crime, but insisted it was not complacent about the threat posed by knife, gun and youth crime.
He attributed the rise in knife crime and robbery to an increase in muggings for smartphones, MP3 players and jewellery, but insisted a recent drive to tackle the problem was effective. He pledged a renewed effort against gun crime, saying officers "recognise that there are still many challenges that require ongoing effort".
Car theft was up 6.3 per cent, and theft from vehicles also rose slightly. Burglary was marginally down, with 127 fewer break-ins. Domestic violence offences fell by 6.1 per cent. Recorded homophobic crime was down, as was racist and religious crime.
Mayor Boris Johnson said the figures "remind us we must never lower our guard against crime. The overall trend is encouraging but we are right in our relentless focus on taking knives off the street, putting more police on the beat and pursuing the most intense and ambitious programme of community engagement ever in this capital."
A man aged 21 and a 17-year-old boy were arrested today over the shooting of Thusha Kamaleswaran. Kazeem Kolawoli, 18, of Lambeth, and Anthony McCalla, 19, of Streatham, have already been charged with attempted murder.
