London murder rate spike 'fuelled by McMafia-style drug barons shifting tonnes of cocaine', MP David Lammy says

Crime scene: Police at the scene after a girl aged 17 was shot dead in Tottenham
Nigel Howard
Robin de Peyer1 August 2018
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The surge in violent crime on London's streets is being fuelled by McMafia-style drug barons, a high-profile MP has said.

David Lammy said a "huge spike" in the movement of cocaine on the capital's streets was contributing to the bloodshed seen so far this year.

There have been 47 murders in London already in 2018, including 15 in February and 22 in March. Both totals exceed the murder rate for the same period in New York.

Mr Lammy spoke out after a 17-year-old girl was killed in a drive-by shooting in his Tottenham constituency on Monday night.

He told the Standard: “I’ve been the MP [for Totteham] for 18 years and the situation at the moment and the numbers of families being affected is worse than I’ve ever seen it.

“We’ve had this vicious spike in knife and gun crime in Haringey, fuelled by a turf war between two rival gangs in Tottenham and Wood Green.”

Kelvin Odunuyi, 19, was gunned down as he stood with friends

The postcode war claimed the life of privately-educated teenager Kelvin Odunuyi, 19, who was shot dead outside a cinema in Wood Green last month.

Mr Lammy said the violence was being exacerbated by battles over "vast quantities" of cocaine passing through London.

“Most of these killings are being fuelled by a huge spike in the movement of drugs, particularly cocaine,” he said.

David Lammy said young poeple were being killed in gangland turf wars
Nigel Howard

“As we see in parts of downtown America, young men - particularly in communities like mine - become foot soldiers for gangsters and McMafia bosses much further up the tree," he said, in a reference to the TV show about organised crime bosses.

He added: “What lies behind the gun violence and the knife crime is a serious drug market that is being driven big time by gangsters and McMafia bosses. That is absolutely clear.

Murder Capital: 15 dead in 20 days

March 14: Joseph Williams-Torres, 20, shot in a car in Walthamstow

March 14: Lyndon Davis, 18, stabbed in Chadwell Heath, east London

March 17: Russell Jones, 23, student shot and stabbed in Enfield

March 18: Tyrone Silcott, 42, father-of-two stabbed in Homerton

March 18: Naomi Hersi, 36, found with fatal knife wounds in hotel near Heathrow

March 19: Jermaine Johnson, 41, stabbed to death in Walthamstow

March 19: Balbir Johal, 48, knifed repeatedly by a group of men in Southall

March 20: Beniamin Pieknyi, 20, stabbed in Stratford shopping centre

March 25: Abraham Badru, 26, graduate shot dead as he got out of car in Dalston

March 26: David Potter, 50, stabbed to death at his home in Tooting 

March 27: Man, 59, died from fractured skull after being attacked at home in Barking

March 29: Reece Tshoma, 23, fatally stabbed near Plumstead station

March 30: Leyla Mtumwa, 38, stabbed to death at her home in Tottenham

April 1: Devoy Burton-Stapleton, 20, fatally stabbed while walking home in Wandsworth

April 2:  17-year-old girl shot dead in street in Tottenham

“Until our country has a coherent strategy on that, and applies the sorts of resources you need to deal with that, it’s going to be very, very hard to grip some of the young people that will get caught up in that drug traffic and turf wars and violence.”

Mr Lammy said drugs passing through London are often sold hundreds of miles away through 'county lines' gangs which use children as young as 12 to traffic drugs.

Police at the scene of the fatal shooting in Tottenham today
Lucy Young

“Even though the war might be fought out on the streets of London, the market may well be hundreds of miles away.”

Mr Lammy criticised cuts to the Metropolitan Police, which has slashed £600 million from its annual budget since 2010, as well as to local authorities providing youth services which help keep young people off the streets after school.

“There is a group of young people falling through the cracks. They tend to come from poorer families, many of them get excluded from school very young."

Shot dead: A girl, named locally as Tanesha Melbourne, was killed in Mr Lammy's Tottenham constituency

But he said: “I’m not someone who wants to excuse the moral responsibility that both parents, communities and young people have themselves never to take a life.”

He added that the surge in violent crime in London could continue unless a strategy which echoes that used in Glasgow, where the murder rate fell dramatically in just a few years, is adopted.

However, he warned: “Glasgow was only able to achieve that with political consensus, across political parties, with serious resources and with every single agency working hand in hand. Until we get that in London, we will not defeat the problem.”

He spoke out after the death of a teenage girl, named locally as Tanesha Melbourne, in a drive-by shooting in Tottenham.

The victim was talking to friends when a gunman opened fire from a car window shortly after 9.30pm.

In a separate attack outside a leisure centre in Walthamstow half an hour later, a 16-year-old boy was shot and another boy of 15 was stabbed.

On Thursday, the family of Abraham Badru, 26, who was shot dead in Hackney on March 25, warned that “gun culture is becoming rampant in our community”.

Abraham Badru, 26, was an aspiring PhD student who was well-loved by friends and family
Metropolitan Police

Details also emerged of three other killings in London last week. Reece Tshoma, 23, was stabbed near Plumstead station on Thursday night. He died at an east London hospital after being helped to A&E by a friend. Mr Tshoma was believed to be a cousin of Aston Villa footballer Aaron Tshibola.

Three days later, on Easter Sunday, Devoy Burton-Stapleton, 20, was stabbed to death on Ellerton Road, Wandsworth, while walking home from a bar just after 1am.

Leyla Mtumwa was stabbed to death in Haringey
Met Police

Meanwhile, Leyla Mtumwa, 38, originally from Tanzania, died on Good Friday after being stabbed at a property in Haringey. Kema Salum, 38, has been charged with her murder.

London's deputy mayor for policing Sophie Linden said Government cuts and social media firms were partly to blame for the rise in violence in the capital.

"It's not all about money but money certainly does help, and we are seeing the real effects of cuts to the services that really matter," she told BBC radio.

"Police officer numbers are falling in London, youth services are being cut in London because of Government cuts.

"Social media certainly does have a part to play in whipping up the violence on the streets that we are seeing at the moment."

Online firms needed to be "quicker and better" at taking down films that fuelled the violence, she said.

But she admitted "no one thing is going to solve this issue".

Downing Street said the performance of the Metropolitan Police in preventing violent crime was the responsibility of Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

Mrs May’s spokesman said: “These are all tragic cases. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims.”

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