Anti-knife patrols carried out by residents in borough where Jodie Chesney fatally stabbed

Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death in a park in east London
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Residents in the London borough where teenager Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death have begun their own anti-knife crime patrols after losing faith in the justice system, the area’s MPs have told Parliament.

Under the “Take a Knife, Save a Life” campaign, people in Havering are walking local streets and parks, talking to youngsters, and asking them to surrender any knives.

MPs said locals had lost confidence in the way that knife offenders are dealt with by the courts and that there were not enough police on the streets. They said the answer should be tougher sentences with Jodie’s MP, Julia Lopez, saying they should be implemented to “honour the memory” of the teenager.

The call, during a debate in Westminster Hall, was prompted by a petition signed by more than 100,000 people that asks for anyone found with a knife to receive 10 years in jail with 25-year sentences for anyone who uses a blade.

Ms Lopez, the Conservative MP for Hornchurch and Upminster, said her constituents had provided more signatures in support of the reform than any other in the country. She said residents had given a “profound” response to the killing “with marches and memorials, purple ribbons tied to trees, railings and lampposts ... and a community vigil”.

Mourners at a vigil for Jodie in Romford town centre
PA

She said: “Many of my constituents want a far tougher regime, because they have lost confidence in the deterrent effect of the existing sentences.”

It comes as Steve Rodhouse, the director of operations at the National Crime Agency, warned MPs that the role of the “county lines” drug trade in causing violence can be exaggerated. He said that only 13 per cent of county lines networks were linked to violence and when conflicts do happen, it is when organised crime groups supplying drugs come into contact with street gangs.

He said this meant that “it would be wrong to overstate the role of drugs” in triggering the recent wave of stabbings.

Justice minister Rory Stewart said Theresa May would be holding a summit with police chiefs on knife crime next week. He added that sentencing had been increasing but that improving the chances of offenders being convicted — which he suggested was currently only three per cent — would be more likely to deter blade carriers.

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