‘It’s becoming normalised’: Chilling knife crime warning after eight killed in shocking week of violence in London

City Hall policing chief Sophie Linden warned cuts to the Met could put Londoners' safety at risk
Robin de Peyer1 August 2018
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London’s deputy mayor for policing has warned the capital’s knife crime epidemic could get even worse as carrying blades becomes “normalised” among young people.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, Sophie Linden said she feared for the safety of Londoners as the Met faces having to find £325 million of annual savings by 2021.

She spoke out after eight people were killed in seven days during a shocking week of violence in London. Seventeen men under the age of 25 have now been killed in violent crimes in London so far in 2018.

“Those figures are shocking and really disturbing," Ms Linden said. “It is a problem in London; myself and the Mayor are absolutely clear that we do have an issue in London.”

The faces of the eight people who were killed in London in the space of a week

She warned that teenagers were more willing than ever to carry blades on their person, saying: “I speak to a lot of young people around attitudes around carrying a knife and what they’ve said to me is it’s becoming more normalised. We do have a real problem with it being more normal to carry knives.”

On the beat: deputy mayor for policing Sophie Linden on a weapons operation with officers in Peckham 

Ms Linden also warned she was “really worried” about Londoners’ safety if the government forces more cuts on the Metropolitan Police, which has trimmed £600 million from its yearly budget since 2010.

“The idea that you could take more money out of [the Met] without it becoming an issue, without there being real pressure, is incredibly worrying,” she said.

Asked if she expected violent crime to continue to rise, Ms Linden added: “I think it will be very difficult to make a substantial inroad in knife crime if the government doesn’t step up.

Police at the scene of another violent killing in Enfield
@lustak1

“If they don’t fund the police, we’re going to have real problems and real difficulties tackling not just violent crime but other crimes across London. It is a real worry.”

"We do have a real problem with it being more normal to carry knives."

Sophie Linden, London's Deputy Mayor for Policing

In January, Mayor Sadiq Khan announced the Met would "significantly" increase the use of stop and search to tackle soaring knife crime on the streets of London.

Ms Linden said the use of stop and search would continue to rise if London’s violent crime problems worsen, saying: “Stop and search is getting weapons off the streets. It’s got to be accountable, it’s got to be transparent [...] but it is an effective tool and we should expect to see it increase where knife crime is increasing.”

'Really kind': Beniamin Pieknyi was stabbed after apparently stepping in to help a friend in Stratford last week

But she added: “We need the community also to give police intelligence. The police can’t do this alone.”

The latest figures from City Hall show there were 14,750 incidents of knife crime in London in the year up to February 2018 - up from 11,701 in the previous 12 months.

The number of fatal stabbings or shootings in London

Jan - Mar 2016: 16

Jan - Mar 2017: 13

Jan - Mar 2018: 26

(Source: Met Police/Evening Standard analysis)

Ms Linden’s comments came as the Mayor announced a £1.4 million funding pot - increased from £250,000 previously allocated - for anti-knife crime projects.

Mr Khan said nine schemes had been awarded funding in the first round of grants, adding that the aim of the projects was to "root out violence within our communities and give more young Londoners the skills, support and aspirations they need to turn away from crime and fulfil their potential."

Mayor Sadiq Khan (pictured here with Met chief Cressida Dick) unveiled new funding packages to tackle violent crime 
AFP/Getty Images

The Home Office said it will publish its Serious Violence Strategy, aimed at intervening before young people consider carrying knives as normal or necessary, in spring.

A spokesman said: “The Mayor of London is accountable to the public for the performance of the Metropolitan Police which will receive £2.5 billion in direct resource funding in 2018-19, including Council Tax precept and has the most officers per head of population - a quarter of all police officers in England and Wales.

"We are clear that every single death from knife crime is a tragedy and this Government is determined to do everything it can to break the deadly cycle and protect our children, families and communities."

How a shocking week of violent crime in London unfolded

On March 14, the beginning of the seven-day spate of killings, a teenager was stabbed to death in Chadwell Heath. Lyndon Davis, 18, was the seventh London teenager killed through knife crime this year.

On the same evening, but in a separate incident, 20-year-old Joseph Torres was shot dead as he sat in his stationary car in Walthamstow. A 15-year-old has been charged with murder and another teenager, 17, has been arrested.

In the early hours of Saturday, March 17, Russell Jones, 23, died after being shot and stabbed outside a shopping parade in Enfield. The same incident left another man in a serious condition.

The following morning, 42-year-old Tyrone Silcott was found stabbed to death in Homerton, east London, after a St Patrick’s Day party. A 28-year-old man was charged with murder.

A 36-year-old was found stabbed to death in a hotel room near Heathrow Airport on Sunday morning. Police named the victim as Hersi Hersi, who was a trans woman called Naomi.

A man in his 40s was killed in a stabbing in Walthamstow, near Wood Street station, on Monday night.

In another case, two men have been charged with the murder of 48-year-old Balbir Johal from Slough, who died of a stab wound in Southall on Monday.

On Tuesday night, Romanian Beniamin Pieknyi, 20, was stabbed to death as he tried to protect his friend at the Stratford Centre in east London.

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