Three teens charged over stabbing of 13-year-old boy in east London

Three teenagers have been charged in connection with the stabbing of a 13-year-old boy in east London.

The boys – two aged 16 and one aged 13 – were charged with wounding with intent under joint enterprise laws while one of the 16-year-olds and the 13-year-old were also charged with possession of an offensive weapon, police said.

They were due to appear at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, the Metropolitan Police said.

The 13-year-old victim remains in hospital in a serious but stable condition following the incident, which happened just before 7pm on Thursday.

The charges come as an extra 300 extra officers are being deployed in areas of London over the weekend in response to a spike in violence on the capital’s streets.

Metropolitan Police Chief Cressida Dick has insisted that the force has not lost control of London’s streets after it emerged that it has opened 55 murder investigations in London this year, with the number of suspected murders in March higher than that of New York.

On Thursday night into Friday morning in London there were six stabbings in the capital, including that of the 13-year-old.

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In an interview with Sky News, Ms Dick admitted London had experienced a “a particularly bad couple of months” compared to New York which had had “a particularly good couple of months” and urged Londoners to wait until the end of the year before comparing the cities.

“We will be using every tactic we know in the coming weeks and months to bear down on knife crime and to reduce the number of homicides,” she said.

On Friday a 30-year-old man was arrested in Hackney over the murder of Tanesha Melbourne-Blake, 17, who was gunned down in Tottenham on Monday as she sat chatting with friends.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Tottenham MP David Lammy both visited the scene on Friday , where friends and loved ones have left dozens of flowers, candles and other tributes.

Mr Khan called on family members and friends of people carrying knives to help tackle the problem.

“You could be a mum or dad, big brother, big sister, a friend, a girlfriend, a boyfriend who knows somebody carrying a knife, leaving their home with a knife, involved in criminality – there’s no honour in keeping that a secret.

“You should try and prevent that person carrying a knife, leaving home with a knife.”

Mr Khan also backed the use of stop-and-search powers, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today: “What you will see over the course of the next few weeks and months is what we have seen over the last few weeks and months which is stop-and-search based on suspicion of carrying an offensive weapon going up, more arrests as a consequence of this intelligence-led stop-and-search going up and hopefully our city becoming safer.”

Former Scotland Yard commissioner Lord Blair said the Met needs extra resources, telling Radio 4 that the Government should “understand that this is a long-term problem which needs funding for police, funding for local authorities, funding for health to deal with this problem”.

“If you take 20% of the Met’s money away, something gives and the thing that has given is neighbourhood policing,” he said, adding that the force does not have “enough officers visible on the street.”

(Top picture: PA)