Schoolboy’s death marks new low in knife crime crisis

THE death of a 14-year-old boy almost three weeks after he was stabbed has marked a new low in Britain’s knife crime crisis.

Detectives launched yet another murder inquiry after David Idowu lost his 20-day fight for life at an east London hospital.

The boy, attacked after a row spilled from a football pitch onto a nearby street, became the 19th teenager to be stabbed to death in the capital this year.

His death came just two days after a senior London police officer said knife crime had overtaken terrorism as his officers’ top priority.

Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson announced the creation of a special knife-crime unit to address the recent spate of stabbings.

It was an admission that several weeks of high-profile stop-and-search operations do not appear to have discouraged young thugs from carrying weapons.

The litany of young dead has shocked police and politicians at a time when they would rather highlight how crimes of almost every kind are falling.

Tory leader David Cameron said yesterday that anyone convicted of knife crime should expect a jail sentence.