TWO teenagers, armed with a machete and sword-like blade, face each other in a chilling stand-off.

This is the terrifying reality of Britain’s knife-crime epidemic, now at a ten-year high.

The shocking footage will be seen by millions of TV viewers tomorrow on Channel 4 documentary series 24 Hours In Police Custody.

The new episode, centred around Bedfordshire Police, is a mix of live footage, body-cam recordings and interview CCTV, following cops as they deal with a series of stabbings.

Detective Tom Hamm, who appears in the show, says: “I’m tired of coming into work and thinking, ‘I wonder who’s going to get stabbed today?’

“I’ve never known it in ten years to be as bad. If you were to equate it to a disease, this would be a national emergency.

“It’s inevitable someone will die. It’s the law of averages.”

‘I thought it best to take my only child out of London’
Viewers will see an afternoon knife fight unfold between three teenagers in a shopping centre.

The TV segment opens with youths in hoodies walking into The Mall in Luton in January last year.

Inside, the trio meet two other hooded figures and one beckons them into a side corridor.

Within moments, one teenager pushes his hood back before producing a large kitchen knife. He appears to stab a rival in the chest. Seconds before, a mum is seen walking past the gang with a baby in her arms.

A second hooded youth then comes forward, holding a machete and making hacking movements toward the other teenager. They move backward and forward before one jabs the other in the side and a chase begins in front of young families.

The machete thug falls to the ground as a boy lunges forward and hacks at his opponent’s leg.

Before fleeing, he makes repeated stabbing movements as his victim lies helpless on the floor.

I’ve never known it in ten years to be as bad. If you were to equate it to a disease, this would be a national emergency.

Detective Tom Hamm
Then a teenager in a puffa jacket and baseball cap is seen on CCTV clutching his arm as he pushes past a pram to get away from the fight.

He collides with two security guards who talk to him as blood drips on to the floor around him. He then begins to sway and struggles to stand, and one of the guards takes his arm.

As the boy tries to steady himself, a friend, also spilling blood, approaches before collapsing. A third person involved in the fight escapes unhurt.

As police and paramedics arrive, it is revealed one of the boys has a life-threatening leg injury.

'It’s inevitable someone will die - it’s the law of averages'
Che Stephens, 17, is identified as the third, uninjured boy. He is tracked to London and brought back to Bedfordshire by armed Met Police officers. The other boys are identified as Luca Sanni, who was stabbed in the leg, and Imani Pobi Da Silva.

They are also brought in for questioning and all refuse to speak.

But after a trial last September at Luton Crown Court, all three were jailed. Stephens, said to have instigated the fight, was given seven and a half years after admitting wounding with intent and possession of a blade.

Sanni got five years for attempted grievous bodily harm and affray and pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article. Pobi Da Silva was jailed for 12 months after being found guilty of possession of a bladed article.

In another shocking case, DS Hamm is among Luton officers investigating the murder of Azaan Kaleem, 18, who was knifed in front of his girlfriend while walking to Luton town centre.

He is shown lying in his own blood as police and paramedics fight to save his life in March last year.

Talking to The Sun on Sunday to mark the anniversary of his death, Azaan’s mum Roseann Taylor says: “I thought it best, as a single parent, to take my only child out of London because it didn’t seem it would be safe for him. So I brought him to Luton.

“He’s kind, loving. You know, what 18-year-old walks round a shopping centre holding his mum’s hand?

“He’s not in and out of trouble. I’ve never had the police come to my door.”

He was stabbed in front of girlfriend Shannon Martin, over a “beef” or argument with another youth. He died two days later.

The programme shows interviews with the suspects and Shannon. She says Azaan had been carrying a knife after being beaten up the previous year but did not get it out to use it in the fight. He showed the handle to a boy staring at him, unaware of the lethal consequences this would have.

I thought it best, as a single parent, to take my only child out of London because it didn’t seem it would be safe for him.

Officers eventually get one of the boys to talk, providing them with the evidence they need. He says the other three set upon Azaan and stabbed him several times before getting back into a car — and he drove them away.

Roseann adds: “When they told me Azaan’s heart had stopped, it was like all my dreams for my child were written on a blackboard — first shave, first car, getting married, having a baby. It was like someone took a rubber and wiped everything off.

“Azaan had been going to his girlfriend’s granddad’s funeral that day. I think he left at 8.30am. He knocked on my bedroom door before he went and asked how he looked. I told him he looked lovely and I loved him, and he went off. That was it. I never spoke to him again. I never imagined he wouldn’t come home.

“I don’t for one minute condone carrying a knife but my son has paid the ultimate price. He was not violent or aggressive. He had been attacked the year before and we reported it, then the witnesses got scared and wouldn’t come forward so no charges were pressed.

‘The reality is, that’s a real person dying there’
“This is happening all the time and Azaan had taken to carrying a knife because he felt unsafe. But we can see from CCTV that never did he reach for that knife. It was a false sense of security.

“Not everybody is carrying a knife because they’re in a gang and they want to hurt somebody. Some feel safer but it’s not the way to do it, it really isn’t.”

Speaking about the footage of Roseann seeing her son on the ground, the show’s executive producer Simon Ford says: “If you’re seeing the moment a mum realises her son might be ripped from her, it might make people pause a bit more. It’s all our responsibilities — not just police but parents and society — to do something about this because it is a genuine epidemic.

“I’ve made about 50 programmes and it’s rare you see the moment someone is killed. You have to think long and hard if you’re going to show something like that, when you know it’s real.

“The thing about Police Custody is that people watch it as if it’s a drama — but the reality is that’s a real person dying there. It’s a hard thing to watch again and again while putting the programme together, and to find the most sensitive way to put it together. It’s some of the most harrowing footage I’ve seen.”

Rashaan Ellis, 18, who police believe dealt the fatal blow, and Callum Smith, 19, were convicted of Azaan’s murder and both sentenced to life with a minimum term of 18 years.

Harrison Searle, 18, was also convicted of murder and given life with a minimum of 16 years.

Reece Bliss-McGrath, 20, who was driving the car, was convicted of manslaughter and got 11 years.

The person who made a call that apparently led to the attack was found not guilty.

DS Hamm says: “Nowadays, it’s not a fist fight, it’s a knife fight. When you are on the ground, they are sticking a couple more blows into you.

“They have no fear of stabbing people in broad daylight.”