Scotland Yard admitted yesterday it had run out of detectives to investigate It came as six teenagers were knifed in just 90 minutes in the capital The force was forced to call in neighbouring City of London Police to help. Scotland Yard admitted yesterday it had run out of detectives to investigate murders as six teenagers were knifed in just 90 minutes on another blood-soaked night in the capital.
The force was forced to call in neighbouring City of London Police to carry out an inquiry into a killing in East London this week.
It took the highly unusual action as the capital’s soaring murder toll hit 55.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick admitted it was a ‘very worrying’ time as she was forced to deny her officers had ‘lost control of crime’. She said: ‘Over the last three months and in particular in the last several days, we have had a unusual spike in horrible homicides, ghastly events, that have taken people’s lives and devastated other people’s lives.
‘It is important that we investigate those to the best of our ability and that we bring people to justice. I anticipate that we will. We are very good at that. ‘We work really closely with the City of London Police. We frequently help them with serious crime. Occasionally they help us. This is not an unprecedented time, but it is a very worrying time.’
It came after another evening of attacks when six teenagers – the youngest just 13 – were stabbed in separate attacks between 5.30pm and 7pm on Thursday.
Following criticism that he had not visited the bereaved families of those killed this week, London Mayor Sadiq Khan yesterday visited the scene where Tanesha Melbourne, 17, was shot dead on Monday
At 6pm two boys of 15 and a third boy aged 16 were stabbed and injured during a fight just two miles away in Mile End.
May won't change rules on stop and search
Theresa May has ruled out relaxing rules on the use of stop-and-search as part of a new strategy to tackle serious violence to be unveiled next week.
Use of the controversial tactic has fallen dramatically since Mrs May ordered a reduction when she was Home Secretary. She issued new guidelines after discovering that young black men were seven times more likely than young white men to be stopped and searched.
However, with 55 murders in London already this year, some have suggested that use of stop-and-search should be expanded again.
Earlier this week, former Home Secretary David Blunkett warned that officers had become ‘afraid’ to use the tactic following Mrs May’s reforms. But Whitehall sources yesterday said Mrs May would resist pressure to roll back her reforms.
Guidance on how stop-and-search should be used will remain unchanged when Home Secretary Amber Rudd published her serious violence strategy next week, they added. Instead, it is understood the strategy will include a demand that internet companies do more to rid their platforms of content that fuels youth violence.
There were 387,448 uses of stop-and-search in England and Wales in 2015-16 – down more than 150,000 on the previous year.
Less than an hour later, a 13-year-old boy was set upon by a gang who stabbed him in a park in Newham, East London. Eight minutes later, an 18-year-old was attacked in Ealing Broadway.
The violence continued last night as two more young males, one aged 16 and the other in his late teens or early 20s, were stabbed at a shopping centre in Croydon, South London.
Following criticism that he had not visited the bereaved families of those killed this week, London Mayor Sadiq Khan yesterday visited the scene where Tanesha Melbourne, 17, was shot dead on Monday, after it emerged police had arrested a 30-year-old man on suspicion of her murder.
A group of 47 MPs also sent a letter to Downing Street calling for action, accusing the Prime Minister Theresa May and Home Secretary Amber Rudd of being ‘absent while violent crime surges’ across the country. The letter, co-ordinated by Ilford North Labour MP Wes Streeting, said: ‘Violent crime has been on the rise since 2014 and in recent weeks we have seen too many lives lost on the streets of London to guns and knives. This is neither acceptable nor inevitable. ‘More must be done to tackle both crime, and the root causes of crime.’ Yesterday Miss Dick was forced to deny police had ‘lost control of crime in London’. She said: ‘It is not this enormous epidemic that people are talking about. There are plenty of us who can go about our business pretty certain that we are not going to be affected by this knife crime.’
Martin Griffiths, head of trauma surgery at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, tweeted yesterday: ‘Tired after another brutal night managing stabbed children. Proud to serve my community in this amazing unit, but wondering how many children have to die before we stop squabbling and invest in youth.’
Bus drivers, train staff, cabbies and security guards are being trained to spot children being used as drug mules.
The Home Office has distributed posters highlighting possible signs that youngsters were being exploited by gangs to run Class A narcotics and money around Britain. The campaign focuses on ‘county lines’ networks, where criminals deploy juveniles as ‘couriers’ to carry drugs and cash to small market towns and seaside resorts.