Mayor Khan is accused over soaring crime

SOARING rates of knife and gun crime have seen Sadiq Khan accused of ‘completely losing control’ of London.

Knife crime increased in the capital by 20 per cent last year, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics, and 38 per cent since he became mayor in 2016.

Mr Khan is seeking a historic third term in elections tomorrow but his political opponents claim he has presided over an eight-year failure to tackle the use of weapons on the city’s streets.

Police recorded 14,626 knife offences in London last year – an average of 40 a day – despite a fall in knife crimes elsewhere in the country. There was also an increase in gun crimes, with 1,208 incidents last year, an annual rise of 20 per cent.

Mr Khan has blamed government cuts and his office insisted the safety of Londoners was his top priority.

But Jasna Badzak, whose 22-year-old son Sven was stabbed to death as he returned home from shopping in Kilburn, north London, in 2021, said she was ‘begging’ Londoners not to vote for Mr Khan.

The former Tory activist told the Evening Standard: ‘Knife crime is completely out of control because of Sadiq Khan. More and more young men are dying and will continue to be murdered. Sven was innocently buying orange juice and a bagel, then attacked on his way home.’

Julius Cools, whose 14-year-old son Jermaine died in a Croydon machete attack, said Mr Khan should prioritise crime instead of introducing low-emission charges for motorists.

He added: ‘The police know who the kids are walking with guns and knives but nothing is done about them.’