Sport project targets gangs

Rival gangs from some of London's toughest estates will be urged to settle their differences through sport in a £700,000 government scheme.

The Streetgames project will be set up in 17 inner city neighbourhoods, bringing five-a-side football, boxercise and street athletics to car parks, playgrounds and cordoned-off streets.

Launching the scheme, world sprint relay bronze medallist Tyrone Edgar, 27, from Euston, said: "There's no more excuse not to get involved in sport with schemes like this."

The Edward Woods estate next to the Westfield shopping centre in Shepherd's Bush, which has turned to sport in the aftermath of a spate of stabbings, will benefit from a football tournament staged between rival groups of Eritreans and Somalis.

Sergeant Gordon Barlow said: "We have seen serious crime and stabbings in this area in the past year and it is as if we have had to hit rock bottom before we appreciate the role sport can play in breaking down barriers."