A FEMALE gang member aged just 15 has told how girls secretly carry deadly weapons on the streets. It is the latest grim chapter in the story of our knife-blighted inner cities.

Nancy earns hundreds of pounds a day dealing drugs in Tottenham, North London, one of the capital’s most deprived areas.

She said: “We have to arm up. Girls carry flick-knives and hide razor blades under their tongues.

“We have to hold our spots (drug sales points) — it feels like there is no choice.”

Her chilling account comes after The Sun on Sunday launched the Beat The Blades campaign last month in a bid to combat the UK’s knife crime epidemic. Nancy claims her experiences on the street have given her insight for an unlikely future career — as a policewoman.

She said: “If the police want to know how to stop young people stabbing each other, they should take the time to get to know us.

“I’ve met a lot of police in my life. Some of them are really tired and fed up. But some of them get a buzz out of stopping people and being violent.

“The best police of all are the ones who try to get along with us and stay nice and calm.

“I was in a park recently when some trouble kicked off and a boy I was with took a swing at an officer.

“He got restrained on the floor but the officer stayed calm and made me laugh.

“The boy was shouting something about me, and the officer told him jokingly, ‘What’s my wife got to do with this?’

“It made us all laugh and stopped more violence from happening.”

She added: “We are a generation who have grown up watching aggressive things on social media and playing violent video games, but so have the police.

“Some people might find it hard to believe I want to be a policewoman but I know I could make a big difference.

“If they had more people like me, there would be more trust and more officers would be able to build relationships with kids in their schools and homes.

“It’s a long shot, I know, but I really hope I get an interview. We’ll have to see if one of the big police bosses is willing to give me a chance.”

Last month The Sun on Sunday unveiled a task force including youth workers, community leaders and MPs to try to tackle the problem.

It called for a ban on online knife sales, more community sports, specially trained school bobbies, a crackdown on middle-class drug use and help for child drug-deal “slaves”.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid backed the initiative, saying: “I’m really pleased you’ve done this.”

Nancy, who has had to conceal her identity for her own safety, was just seven when her mum disappeared back to Africa, leaving her to fend for herself for two years.

She recalled: “I used to cry every single night, wondering where my mum was and praying she’d come home. By the time she returned I was a different kid — restless and insecure.

“It didn’t help that we kept getting evicted. So every time I got settled we would have to pack our bags again.”

Nancy was permanently excluded from school and said: “I don’t even remember why. I just had a lot of things on my mind.” In Tottenham she witnessed the 2011 riots, which saw widespread looting and the worst civil unrest since the 1981 race riots.

She said: “If I close my eyes I can still smell the burning and hear the sirens wailing.

“Tottenham was falling down. People were just killing people everywhere.”

Nancy soon drifted on to “the road” — street slang for gang life — and was an experienced drug dealer by the age of 13.

She does not attend school and spends her illegal income from drug sales on designer clothing.

She said: “Girls play a big part in this life.

“If you are a drug dealer, having a girl by your side gives you more protection from the Feds (police).

“They can make it look like they are hugging or kissing a girl when really they are passing her drugs to sell.

“It’s the way it is — if you chill with the mandem (male gang members), they will ask you to do stuff.”

For Nancy, a typical day involves going to the bando (drug den) first thing to collect drugs before taking up a designated spot to do shots (sell and deliver drugs). On other days, the olders (senior, usually male dealers) send her out to steal mobile phones, expecting her to bring back two or three in exchange for around £200 each, depending on the models.

Just like their male counterparts, girl recruits are expected to be loyal, punctual and never sample the food (drugs) themselves. Punishments for breaking the rules are brutal.

Nancy said: “If you don’t give them the right amount of money they will slash you. Sometimes they send girls to slap other girls.

“A lot of these people have nothing to lose — they will just box you up.”

Some girls are used to cover up the use of knives.

She explained: “They get told to stay at home and are asked to hide weapons — knives under pillows, guns under the bed. The thinking again is that they are less likely to be searched.”

Nancy says some girls are able to escape gang life by forming relationships with more superior gang members and having their children.

She added: “Their lives are lavish. The kids are in designer gear, they live in nice council houses and wear nice trainers.

“But us ordinary road girls don’t want to get pregnant because it’s bad for business.

“I wish there was a way out for me. It’s just the money that keeps me on the road.

Sunday
“Money has always been tight at home, I’ve never had any and because I left school early there are no other jobs so shotting (selling drugs) is better.

“But there is a price. You can get beaten up by the olders and beaten up by the people you are selling to.

“Someone I know had their spine broken and people have been stabbed.”