Reid to meet London MPs after 3rd shooting

Thursday, 15 February 2007 12:00 AM

Home secretary John Reid will meet south London MPs after the third fatal shooting of a teenager in two weeks.

The meeting was organised by constitutional affairs minister Harriet Harman, MP for Camberwell and Peckham.

"I think there is a great deal of concern and people want to make sure that we are all working together looking across the board," she told Sky News.

"There is a great deal of concern in the local community and one of the things we need to do is to ensure that where parents know or suspect or fear that one of their children is getting into trouble they know where to turn and they get proper back-up."

A Home Office spokesman said the meeting, which would also be attended by the Metropolitan police, would cover "a variety of issues".

But the Conservatives have described the shootings as "a tragic illustration of the soaring violent crime Britain now faces on a daily basis".

Shadow home secretary David Davis said: "Gun crime has doubled since 1997 and is now totally out of control."

Ms Harman rejected the claims.

"Actually the figures show that gun crime and knife crime is falling but what appears to be happening is that it is not so much more young people are being involved in gang crime, but that the age at which they are being involved is younger and that the level of seriousness of the offending is getting worse," she said.

Metropolitan police commissioner Ian Blair today unveiled a new temporary taskforce in response to the shootings and said there would "be an increase in intelligence-led armed interventions and high visibility policing in certain locations".

Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat constitutional affairs spokesman and MP for Southwark and Bermondsey, said: "The extra protection which the Met is putting into south London is very welcome.

"Children and young people are always the most vulnerable and the most likely to be the victims of violent crime.

"There's one overriding priority - reducing fear amongst young people on the streets and in the estates. The police as well as political and community leaders must do everything in their power to deliver this."

Sir Ian revealed he discussed lowering the minimum age at which a person possessing a gun receives a mandatory five-year prison sentence with the home secretary.

He said Mr Reid was "sympathetic" to his request that the age should be reduced to 17.

Billy Cox, 15, was killed at home in Clapham yesterday. On February 6th, 15-year-old Michael Donsmu was shot at home in Peckham and three days earlier 16-year-old James Smartt-Ford was shot dead at Streatham ice rink.

Tags:
• crime
,
• domestic policy