Britain facing 'terrible, terrible' knife crime crisis, Home Office minister warns

Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death in a park in east London

Britain is facing a “terrible, terrible crisis” over knife crime, a Home Office minister admitted today as emotional tributes continued to pour in for the latest London stab victim Jodie Chesney.

Victoria Atkins, whose Home Office responsibilities include overseeing the fight against knife crime, insisted that ministers were working “every single day” on trying to stem the surge in fatalities and that there were “small signs” of progress being achieved.

But she admitted that her words would sound “hollow” to bereaved families and warned that the scale of the problem meant that it would “take us time” for action to succeed.

Ms Atkin’s words follow the murder of 17-year-old Scout Jodie on Friday when she stabbed in the back by a young man while playing music with five other teenagers at a park in Harold Hill and the killing of another teenager, Yousef Makki, 17, in Cheshire on Saturday.

Tributes laid in Harold Hill after the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Jodie Chesney 
PA

The deaths - which are the latest in a succession of fatal stabbings to hit the capital and other parts of the country - have prompted renewed pressure for more intensive action.

Former Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan Howe has called for more police and the appointment of a new knife crime supremo to coordinate a national campaign against the the problem.

People lay floral tributes near to where 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was killed
REUTERS

Labour MPs also accused the government and Prime Minister Theresa May of not doing enough, as the pain felt by those who knew Jodie was reflected in statements from her Scout leader, Anna Skipworth, and the Mayor of Havering Dilip Patel.

Ms Skipworth said Jodie had ”blossomed into an amazing young woman” and “was a delight to have as a member” of her Scout group.

She added: “She always had a smile on her face, supporting the younger members where she could. She was funny, intelligent and a joy to work with. She was simply outstanding in every way.”

Mr Patel said that he had known Jodie for a couple of months but had known her boyfriend Eddie since he was little and that the pair had “looked absolutely smitten - like love birds” when he saw them recently.

“They were normal teenagers living their life they said they were going for dinner in Romford. They seemed very much in love. She was very grown up in her way, a very kind, loving and a community minded person.”

Giving her response to the latest deaths, Home Office minister Ms Atkins insisted that the government was taking knife crime “very, very seriously” and had implemented both long term and short term measures to tackle it.

These included action against the “county lines” drug gangs, which police and ministers blame for fuelling much of the violence, as well as the introduction of new knife crime prevention orders, under which children as young as 12 suspected of carrying knives will face curbs on their activities designed to divert them away from getting dragged into offending.

The minister also insisted that Met had begun to see “some turnaround” in the knife crime figures, but conceded that the scale of the violence amounted to a crisis.

“It’s a terrible, terrible crisis for every family affected by knife crime. We take it very, very seriously,” Ms Atkins said. “I’m a mum. We all can’t begin to imagine the pain that their parents are going through.

“But we’ve been working now for the last year on tackling serious violence and have both short term and long term measures to tackle this. This isn’t simply about arresting our way out of this. We need to stop young people from carrying knives in the first place and stop them from causing this terrible, terrible harm.”

Ms Atkins said that a review of school exclusions was underway because of the number of expelled children who were being “picked up by gangs” but rejected claims that cuts to police numbers were to blame for the surge in violence.

“We had a knife crime spike in the 2000s where police numbers were far higher,” she said. “We know also that in other developed economies they are seeing increases in violent crime themselves.

“Drugs is the main driver as far as we are concerned of this serious violence which is why we are very keen to ensure that the laws in relation to illegal drugs remain as tough as they are.”

Meanwhile, former Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan Howe said that 20,000 more officers were needed as well as a new national leader to oversee the battle against knife crime.

“Too many people are getting stabbed and too many people are dying,” he said. “It needs a leader, someone who day after day is going to say, what are the police doing, what are the other agencies doing, how can you get the charities to work together, because if it’s not treated as a crisis it will take another two years before we see action.

“Something has to change. A start has been made, but it’s not at the pace at which the problem has developed.”

Meanwhile, police investigating Jodie’s death at the park in St Neot’s Road, Harold Hill, appealed for witnesses who had seen the young black man who killed Jodie and the friend who was with him to contact them.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Whellams, who is leading the investigation, added: “Although the description of the suspect is limited, I am certain that people will have seen the two males hanging around the park or running away from the scene - or will otherwise have noticed something suspicious. I need those people to call me.”

Friends say the killing may have been a case of mistaken identity and Jodie had no connection to any local gangs.

They said the killer had been in the park with another man earlier in the evening, before returning at 9.30pm and stabbing Jodie in the back.

Jodie was an enthusiastic Scout Explorer who had visited Downing Street in November and had also been selected to honour the Chelsea Pensioners at the Royal Albert Hall.

A fundraising page set up to cover the costs of Jodie’s funeral today neared the £5,000 mark.

No arrests have been made. Anyone with information is asked to contact the police incident room on 020 8345 3775, tweet @MetCC or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Additional reporting by Adebola Lamuye and Barney Davis

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