“I was in labour for 23 hours with him, yet it took less than four minutes to stab him to death,”

The mother of a teenager stabbed to death by a 15-year-old boy has called on the Government to tackle the “knife crime that seems to have taken over the streets of London”.

Yinka Bankole issued the emotional plea after her son’s killer was convicted of murder at the Old Bailey.  

Fola Orebiyi, 17, died after being knifed in the neck in Notting Hill last July. He had been out with a friend in Colville Square when the pair were approached by a group of boys who began abusing them.

A fight broke out during which a 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, jumped on Fola and fatally stabbed him.

His killer was convicted yesterday and will be sentenced next month.

In an emotional statement, Ms Bankole said her son’s death — and a spate of other knife killings in London, including the stabbing of  15-year-old Quamari Barnes outside the gates of Capital City Academy in Willesden — should prompt government action. 

Ms Bankole said her son had been “a vibrant and intelligent young man, with a bright future ahead of him”  and no gang or criminal background.

She added: “I was in labour for 23 hours with him, yet it took less than four minutes to stab him to death, while several youths stood there and didn’t ask for help or assist him, and Fola he bled to death.

“To me this is the most devastating moment of my life. Knowing that I wasn’t there to protect my son, I will have to live with that for the rest of my life. Yet to the system, just another figure added to the statistics.

“In an act that took less than four minutes, several lives were ruined, including that of the boy who has been found guilty of Fola’s murder.

"No length of time will be long enough for what he did. What are the Government doing about this knife crime that seems to have taken over the streets of London?

(Excerpt:January 2017)

Knife Crime - The Reality

KNIFE crime in England and Wales has leapt by as much as 90% in two years in some areas, according to new police data

In fact, the most common weapon used in a violent crime in England and Wales is not a gun - but a knife.

A TERRIFYING knife crime now takes place on the streets of Britain every EIGHT MINUTES

One in five MUGGERS now threatens victims with knives.

Street ROBBERIES in which a knife was used soared from 25,500 in 2005 to 64,000 in the year to April 2007.

On average a shocking 175 people are robbed at knifepoint every day up from 110 last year and 69 two years ago.

Areas with the biggest rises include Devon and Cornwall, Lincolnshire and Bedfordshire - all of which also saw steep increases in overall violence. The highest rise in knife crime was recorded by Nottinghamshire police. There, offences involving blades went up from 338 in 2002 to 650 last year - a rise of 92%. Last year there were 223 muggings using knives in the county a rise of 43% since 2002.

In Nottinghamshire the force said some criminals may be choosing knives rather than guns because of higher mandatory sentences for possession of firearms. Gun crime in the county has fallen by 30% in the past year.

At present, carrying a knife with a blade longer than 3in can lead to a four-year prison term or a fine. This contrasts with illegal possession of firearms, which carries a jail term of 5-10 years.

Recent studies have shown that there has been an increase in the number of knives being taken to school. According to a study by the Youth Justice Board, 300,000 of the country's 10m pupils regularly carry such weapons in school.

Areas with highest knife crime increases

Nottinghamshire: 2002-338; 2004-650; Rise 92%

Bedfordshire: 2002-79; 2004-113; Rise 43%

Devon & Cornwall: 2002-108; 2004-152; Rise 41%

Lincolnshire : 2002-402; 2004-497; Rise 24%

The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London recently conducted some deeper analysis of the available Home Office's statistics.

It concluded that between 22,000 and 57,900 young people could have been victims of knife crime in 2004. However, it says without better official data it is impossible to know for sure - and that we need that data to improve the public debate.

Knife violence in Britain is far worse than official statistics suggest, with almost 14,000 people taken to hospital for injuries caused by knives and other sharp weapons.

According to the latest Department of Health statistics, an average of 38 victims of knife wounds are admitted to accident and emergency departments across the country every day.

The latest statistics from hospitals in England alone highlight an 88 per cent jump in the number of children suffering stab wounds - from 95 in 2002-03 to 179 in 2006-07. And among 16- to 18-year-olds, there has been a 75 per cent rise from 429 to 752.

Most were not jailed, with just 14 per cent ending up in prison for little more than three months on average. Suspended sentences leapt from nine in 1997 to 552 in 2006

Dr Tunji Lasoye, A&E consultant at King's College Hospital, London said: "In a nutshell the numbers of stab victims coming into A&E have gone up. It used to be that we would see isolated cases at weekends, but now it is nearly every day of the week. And the age of the victims has gone down. We used to see people in their early 20s; now they are in their mid-teens. And 10 per cent of the victims we see now are girls, which wasn't the case a few years ago."

Stop and search key to London's battle with knife crime menace

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has told Sky News that stop and search operations could be stepped up in problem areas of the capital after a huge rise in knife crime.

Thirty people have been stabbed to death in London so far in 2017, a rise of almost a third from 23 during the same period in 2016.

In the last four weeks alone, there have been 14 deaths.

A record 300 knives were seized in seven days by officers across the capital.

Scotland Yard has set up a specialist task force to combat the problem, with community leaders claiming some children as young as six are carrying knives.

On a week in which there were three knife killings, Sky News gained exclusive access to the Met's elite gang units, tasked with getting knives and other dangerous weapons off the streets.

Plain-clothed officers in south and west London targeted known gang members and made several knife-related arrests.

Ms Dick said one of her biggest challenges as the UK's most senior officer was tackling knife crime, and indicated the likelihood that stop and search might have to be increased in the worst areas.

She told Sky News: "Stop and search is a very important tactic - it's a very important power for officers and has been hugely powerful in the fight so far against knife crime.

"Thousands and thousands of people have been stopped and successfully searched, where a knife has been recovered.

"So of course I want it to continue and if it increases, because that is the best way that people are finding to reduce knife crime, and to stop young people suffering life-changing injuries, or even being killed, then I will absolutely support it and explain why we've had an increase."

The Commissioner vowed to get to the root of knife crime as she visited a youth centre, where she met the family of 20-year-old Lewis Elwin, who was stabbed to death in Tooting, south London, in 2016.

His killer has not been caught.

His eldest brother, Byron Douglas-Letts, said: "It's frightening knowing someone can commit such an offence, such an act of violence, but yet no one has been caught, and this is just one case - these cases are popping up everywhere now."

(Excerpt from newspaper article)