The families of young people killed in London on Monday accused Sadiq Khan of “completely losing control” of the capital’s streets after a 20 per cent rise in knife and gun crime.
Jasna Badzak, whose son Sven was stabbed to death as he returned from a shopping trip to Waitrose in Kilburn, believes “criminals rule” the capital under Mayor Mr Khan, who is seeking a historic third term this week.
Julius Cools, father of 14-year-old Jermaine who died in a Croydon machete attack, said suspects were emboldened because they were “getting away with it time after time”.
The Office for National Statistics said that 14,626 knife offences were recorded by police in the capital last year, 2,481 more than 2022— an average 40 blade crimes each day. There was also a big leap in gun crimes with 1,208 during 2023, up by more than 200 on the 1,010 recorded a year earlier.
Figures also show there has been a 38 per cent increase in knife offences since Mr Khan took office eight years ago.
Former Tory activist Mrs Badzak, 52, is bedridden due to the stress caused by 22-year-old aspiring lawyer Sven’s killing in a case of mistaken identity in February 2021. She told the Standard: “Knife crime is completely out of control because of Sadiq Khan. More and more young men are dying and will continue to be murdered. Sven was innocently buying orange juice and a bagel, then attacked on his way home.
“All the culprits in Sven’s killing were known criminals who should have been in jail for carrying knives but they weren’t. And these men are not alone — scores of them are free to roam London’s streets to kill because Khan undermines police use of stop-and-search. Criminals rule London.”
Of 110 killings recorded in 2023, 71 of them were committed using a knife.
Harry Pitman, 16, — stabbed to death with a hunting knife while waiting to watch New Year’s Eve fireworks on Primrose Hill — was the 21st teenager to be killed last year. The total marked a 50 per cent rise on the 14 homicides the previous year, but was short of 2021, the worst on record when 30 youngsters lost their lives.
In September Elianne Andam, 15, was knifed to death on her way to school in Croydon, one of 11 killings that happened in the town — more than any other borough. The killer of Mr Cools’ son, 16-year-old drill rapper Marques Walker, had a history of carrying deadly weapons and was on bail for carrying a zombie knife six weeks before.
Mr Cools remains angry that after Walker was sentenced to life for murder last year, police didn’t have enough evidence to charge the rest of the gang involved in the stabbing outside a chicken shop near West Croydon train station in November 2021. Unarmed Jermaine was London’s youngest knife crime victim that year.
Mr Cools, 50, said: “I don’t think Sadiq Khan cares about us. The same way he takes money from poor people driving their cars, he should put that effort into ridding London of weapons.
“The police know who the kids are walking with guns and knives but nothing is done about them. Others with Walker that night are still out there, getting away with it time after time.
“Anyone can see they have lost control, and the only reason for that is because it’s not happening to them or their families. We are living in pain every day of our lives.” The parents of innocent Charlie Bartolo, 16, rammed off his moped with an SUV before being stabbed, said: “His precious life was not theirs to take.”
Charlie was targeted by a group of teenage thugs armed with zombie knives who mistook him for a rival in Abbey Wood on November 26, 2022. They left their own friend Kearne Solanke, 16, for dead after he was stabbed by accident in the ambush.
Charlie’s father Tony Bartolo said: “Never in my worst dreams could I ever imagine that my son Charlie would be murdered, all alone in the dark on a November evening. And for what reason? As a father I am haunted by how I was not there to save him, comfort him.”
His mother Emma Bartolo said that when she arrived at the mortuary to see the schoolboy, who had lined up an apprenticeship as an electrician and plumber, she was unable to dress him “due to the horrific knife wounds all over his body”. When she tried to put a pair of new trainers on him, one foot “was practically hanging off”. She added: “They savagely took my boy. His precious life was not theirs to take.”
Susan Hall, Mr Khan’s Tory opponent in the mayoral election, said: “We have got to get knives off our streets and on Thursday, we have the chance to elect a new mayor who will prioritise that.
“I am listening to Londoners concerned about knife crime, which is why I will recruit more police and give them knife detection wands, so we can stop and search faster and less intrusively.”
Meanwhile, policing minster Chris Philp on Monday accused Mr Khan of failing in his duty to keep Londoners safe by presiding over a decline in stop and search and a consequent fall in the number of weapons being seized on the streets. In a letter to the Mayor, Mr Philp said he was concerned that stop and searches in the capital had fallen by 44 per cent over the past two years at a time when knife crime has been increasing.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “A key part of our plan to reform the Met is to work closely with our communities, ensuring we police with their consent. Stop and search is one of the tactics we use to tackle knife-crime and take weapons off our streets.
“The Met does not set targets for how many stop and searches are conducted and volumes fluctuate for a number of reasons. We focus on the quality of the encounter and the precision in the use of the power, in order to ensure that we have the trust and confidence of the public.
“We know that when done wrong, we risk alienating members of the public, which is why we continue to monitor our stop and search activity. We are also working closely with our communities to help create an agreement between the Met and the public on how we conduct stop and search in the future.
“Used appropriately, stop and search powers save lives and are an important tactic to keep Londoners safe, helping us identify criminality and take drugs and dangerous weapons off our streets.
“Other measures we use to tackle knife crime includes patrols in communities impacted by violence to help people feel safe, and conducting weapon sweeps in violence hotspots to remove weapons from our streets.”
A spokesman for Mr Khan said: “Sadiq is devastated for Sven’s family and all those affected by senseless violence.
“His top priority is the safety of Londoners. As Mayor he has more than doubled investment from City Hall in policing, put 1,300 extra police officers on the streets, funded an additional 500 PCSOs and set up England’s first Violence Reduction Unit to help steer young people away from violence and towards education and employment.
“If he is re-elected on May 2, Sadiq will continue to invest in our young people and put an additional 1,300 police on the streets.”