Somali parents in London send their children back to war-torn East African country because they say it is safer than the crime-hit capital
- Islington mayor estimates two in five Somali families send children home
- Rakhia Ismail is herself a mother of four who came to London as Somali refugee
- One 15-year-old boy was stabbed four times just 17 days after returning to the UK from Somaliland
Hundreds of British parents are sending their teenage children back to East Africa to avoid the knife crime epidemic that has struck London and seen 51 murders this year.
And the teenagers say they feel safer there, despite the Foreign and Commonwealth office advising against all travel to Somalia and warning against the threat of terrorism across Kenya.
One Somali mother, Amina, was interviewed on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme and told the harrowing story of how her 15-year-old son was stabbed four times, just 17 days after he returned from a year-long stay in their homeland.
One Somali mother, Amina (pictured), was interviewed on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme and told the harrowing story of how her 15-year-old son was stabbed four times, just 17 days after he returned from a year-long stay in their homeland
She said: 'They damaged his bladder, his kidneys, his liver. He's got permanent damage.
'He was safer there [in Somaliland] than he was here, 100 per cent more safe than in London.'
Last year the Foreign Office named Somalia the 13th most dangerous country in the world due to its constant threat of terrorism.
And yet two in five Somalian families in London are sending their children home to avoid the knife crime epidemic hitting the capital, according to the mayor of Islington.
Hundreds of British parents are sending their teenage children back to East Africa to avoid the knife crime epidemic that has struck London and seen 51 murders this year
Mayor Rakhia Ismail, a mother of four who came to London as a Somalian refugee, said that parents are making the drastic decision because they believe it will save their child's life.
So far this year 100 people have been stabbed to death in the UK.
According to the BBC, eight per cent of the victims were of Somali heritage.
Earlier this morning a man in his 30s was stabbed to death in London, sparking the capital's 51st murder probe this year.
The most recent crime statistics show that there are two killings every day on Britain's streets - the highest level in a decade.
A mentor of young Somali men in London, Jamal Hassan, explained on the Victoria Derbyshire programme that parents will do anything to protect their child.
A mentor of young men in London, Jamal Hassan, explained that parents will do anything to protect their child. He said: 'If it means that child doesn't finish school, college, university or he will not have a good job by the time you come for them the future is not really important'
He said: 'If it means that child doesn't finish school, college, university or he will not have a good job by the time you come for them the future is not really important.
'What is important is that child's life.'
Yusuf, a 21-year-old boy who grew up in London that did not want to be identified, told Mr Hassan that he moved to Nairobi because he was seeing people get stabbed 'every other day'.
Two in five Somalian families in London are sending their children home to avoid the knife crime epidemic hitting the capital, according to the mayor of Islington - Rakhia Ismail
He said: 'There are people in my neighbourhood, someone who I really knew, who lost his life.'
Ms Ismail said: 'Does the parent wait for her child to be killed?
'Or does the parent take a decision - quite a drastic decision - to take him all the way back to wherever that child is from originally?'
One mother who sent her child to Africa in a bid to avoid London's knife crime said she can now sleep at night knowing that the police sirens she hears have nothing to do with her son.
London's latest stabbing comes just two days after a 23-year-old was knifed multiple times in Tower Hamlets at 4.30pm in the afternoon.
He was the 50th victim so far this year - and it was the eighth murder in the capital this month as Britain struggles to get to grips with a knife epidemic.
LONDON'S MURDERS IN 2019
Where the 49 murders in the capital so far this year have been committed
- Jan 1: Charlotte Huggins, 32, Camberwell
- Jan 1: Tudor Simionov, 33, Mayfair
- Jan 4: Simbiso Aretha Moula, 39, Rainham
- Jan 6: Sarah Ashraf, 35, Isle of Dogs
- Jan 7: Jayden Moody, 14, Waltham Forest
- Jan 11: Asma Begum, 31, Canning Town
- Jan 27: Kamil Malysz, 34, Acton
- Jan 29: Nedim Bilgin, 17, Islington
- Feb 4: Carl Thorpe, 46, Highgate
- Feb 5: Lejean Richards, 19, Battersea
- Feb 10: Dennis Anderson, 39, East Dulwich
- Feb 18: Bright Akinlele, 22, Camden
- Feb 19: Brian Wieland, 69, Chingford
- Feb 21: Glendon Spence, 23, Brixton
- Feb 22: Kamali Gabbidon-Lynck, 19, Wood Green
- Feb 25: David Lopez-Fernandez, 38, Tower Hamlets
- Feb 26: Che Morrison, 20, Ilford
- Mar 1: Jodie Chesney, 17, Harold Hill
- Mar 2: Elize Linda Stevens, 50, Hendon
- Mar 2: Jolia Bogdan, 3 months, Croydon
- Mar 3: Unnamed man, 37, Soho
- Mar 6: Laureline Garcia-Bertaux, 34, Kew
- Mar 6: David Martinez, 26, Leyton
- Mar 7: Antoinette Donnegan, 52, Battersea
- Mar 7: Ayub Hassan, 17, West Kensington
- Mar 16: Nathaniel Armstrong, 29, Fulham
- Mar 22: Abdirashid Mohamoud, 17, Isleworth
- Mar 24: Ravi Katharkamar, 54, Pinner
- Mar 27: Ramane Richard Wiggan, 25, West Norwood
- Mar 28: Zahir Visiter, 25, Regents Park
- Mar 29: Gavin Garraway, 40, Clapham
- Apr 1: Calvin Bungisa, 22, Kentish Town
- Apr 2: Hubert Hall, 60, Walthamstow
- Apr 7: Annabelle Lancaster, 22, Enfield
- Apr 8: Noore Bashir Salad, 22, Manor Park
- Apr 16: Gopinath Kasivisuwanathan, 27, Wembley
- Apr 17: Steven Brown, 47, Stoke Newington
- Apr 23: Meshak Williams, 21, Harlesden
- Apr 26: Mihrican Mustafa, 38, Canning Town
- Apr 26: Henriett Szucs, 34, Canning Town
- Apr 26: Amy Parsons, 35, Whitechapel
- Apr 26: Joshua White, 29, Hackney
- May 1: Tashaun Aird, 15, Hackney
- May 5: Constantin Sin, 51, Leytonstone
- May 5: Junior Urugbezi-Edwards, 18, Southwark
- May 11: Erik San-Filippo, 23, Islington
- May 16: Barrington Davis, 54, Lewisham
- May 23: Unnamed man, 60s, Kensington
- May 23: Unnamed woman, 60s, Kensington
- May 26: Unnamed woman, 23, Tower Hamlets
- May 28: Unnamed man, 30s, Newham
The number of homicides - which includes murder and manslaughter cases - dropped between 2009 and 2014- but has since risen sharply
There has been a marked increase in the number of knife crimes in the last three years
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