We need to treat knife crime as a real emergency

‘Britain's knife-crime epidemic has become London-centric’

- Esther Krakue

THE fatal stabbing of teenager Harry Pitman in Primrose Hill ushered in the worst possible start to the New Year. Just 20 minutes before T midnight, the 16-year-old lay bleeding to death as revellers watched Sadiq Khan's New Year fireworks from the affluent north London suburb. And despite the efforts of paramedics, an Air Ambulance crew, and police fighting their way through crowds, Harry was declared dead at the scene.

As news of this tragedy broke, many Londoners like me thought: "Not again." We all recall the fatal stabbing of 15-year-old Elianne Andam in Croydon on her way to school on September 27. And the death of Ilyas Habibi, 17, knifed to death in Sutton, south London, on his way home from college last month.

Now with Harry Pitman's death, the 18th fatal stabbing in the capital of 2023, the issue of knife crime - and by extension Sadiq Khan's leadership as mayor has once again been brought to national attention.

Since he took office in 2016, knife offences in London have increased by a staggering 49 per cent. Last year the Metropolitan Police recorded a 21 per cent increase in knife-related crime.