They strut around with knives hidden down the fronts of their trousers. If you look at them or their girlfriends the wrong way, they may see it as a reason to kill. They are 'baby gangsters', many under the age of 16 and some said to be as young as seven, who come from a side of Britain tourists never see.
Thirty teenagers have been killed this year in Britain, four in the past fortnight. The battered body of 17-year-old Amar Aslam was found two weeks ago in a park in Dewsbury, a town in northern England. He was apparently beaten to death during a fight between rival teenage gangs.
Robert Knox, an 18-year-old actor playing a role in the upcoming Harry Potter film, was stabbed to death in a club in southeast London a week ago while trying to protect his younger brother from a man armed with two knives. He was stabbed four times.
Two weeks earlier, Jimmy Mizen, 16, was killed during a scuffle in a baker's shop. His throat was slit with a shard of glass as he tried to help defend workers from a youth who was robbing the shop. His killer has yet to be found.
According to Scotland Yard, there are 169 'baby gangs' in London alone, with more than 5,000 teenagers involved. In the capital, 52 teenagers on average are stabbed each week. And gang members are getting younger and younger, with some still at primary school.
Authorities fear that some schools are becoming unsafe for pupils. According to a survey carried out by Tuned In, a market research company specialising in youth issues, one in three teenagers thinks it is acceptable to carry a knife for self-defence. In addition, half of the youths interviewed said they knew someone who had been the victim of a knife crime.
