Kids as young as SEVEN ‘should be taught about gangs and knives’

KIDS as young as seven should be taught about gangs and knives, the Government’s victims’ commissioner has warned.

Baroness Helen Newlove, whose husband was murdered by three youths, warned schoolkids needed to be educated before they were "sucked into" gang culture.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Baroness Newlove said: "Any strategy must start long before children have been sucked into gangs and a hostile and violent culture.

"I speak from the unenviable position of having been widowed because of violent crime. But no child is born with a knife in its hand. We must do something in the intervening years before it becomes the essential accessory."

Garry Newlove died three days after confronting a gang of teenagers who were vandalising his car in Warrington, Cheshire, in 2007.

Teenagers Stephen Sorton, Adam Swellings and Jordan Cunliffe were jailed for life over his murder following a trial at Chester Crown Court in January 2008.

His widow has since been campaigning against violence, revealing her horror at the recent spike in Lawless Britain.

Five people were killed in just six days in London, including 22-year-old Ayodeji Habeeb Azeez who was knifed to death in broad daylight.

Disturbingly, youngsters have made up many of the 119 murders in London so far this year.

More than 69,000 children aged ten to 15 have been wounded in the year to June.

Ofsted today warned gangs were slipping knives into schoolbags to get students expelled - so they could then be recruited to carry drugs.

The Times reported children were being left "at the mercy of unscrupulous and highly professional organised criminals".

Children are also being escorted by staff to bus stops at staggered times to get them safely out of the area, it was claimed.

It comes after Met Police chief Cressida Dick declared war on gangs in London.

Writing in the Standard, Ms Dick slammed gangs for recruiting "vulnerable young people, drawing them into a life of drug-dealing, sexual exploitation and violence through a false sense of belonging which is then incredibly hard for them to escape".

Recently, a map showing the intricate web of gangs in London was released - with the patchwork covering most of the capital.

Killings in Britain rose to a ten-year high this year, fresh figures revealed.

And the total number of offences involving a knife or bladed instrument that have been recorded by cops in the year to March 2018 rose to 40,147, a seven-year-high.