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

London vs Mogadishu: Murder rates Somalian parents living in London are sending their children back to their home country even though the murder rates in its capital, Mogadishu, are far worse. Based on the most recent data, Mogadishu saw 1,376 murders in 2017, whereas London saw just less than a tenth of that number at 129. With a population of 2.425million, Mogadishu's murder rate is 56.75 per 100,000 people. However, with a population of 8.825million London's murder rate is 1.46 per 100,000. While the figures should speak for themselves, past incidents may indicate that young men from East Africa are more at risk of being killed in London. One mother, Fowsiya Abdi, 48, has lost two sons and a nephew to stabbings in London in the past two years. Advertisement

Britain's latest crime statistics Last year, homicides rose by 6% year-on-year to 732 offences.

Robbery offences rose by 11%, to a total of 82,566.

There were 40,829 police-recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument - a 6% increase.

The number of violent offences was more than 1,608,500 last year - a 19% increase on 2017.

Total police-recorded crime, excluding fraud and computer misuse, stood at 5.2 million offences in 2018 - up 7%. Advertisement

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 Somali mother who lost three boys to knife crime in London Fowsiya Abdi, 48, has lost two sons and a nephew in the past two years. All three were stabbed to death on the streets of London. Her son, aspiring accountant Sadiq Adan Mohamed, 20, rang her as he lay dying, leaving her a voicemail message begging for help, saying, 'I'm wounded,' just moments after he was attacked by a gang of four wielding a samurai sword. The aspiring accountant, Sadiq Adan Mohamed, (pictured) was found with serious stab wounds in Belsize Park, north London His brother Mohamed Aadam (left), was stabbed to death in September 2017, some four years after and their cousin Mohamed Abdullahi (right) was stabbed to death in 2013 Mrs Abdi called for anyone carrying a blade to be 'taken off the streets'. She spoke of her agony after her elder son and nephew, both 20, were also killed within a mile of each other in London in separate attacks. Last September Mrs Abdi's elder son Mohamed Aadam was knifed to death outside a takeaway. In 2013 his cousin Mohamed Abdullahi was also fatally stabbed in the heart in a case of mistaken identity by a gang. She said: 'I don't know who killed my son, I do not know why. But in September Mohamed was killed and now Sadiq has been killed, and four years ago my nephew was too. They were all 20. 'It's unacceptable, I am now so worried for my other children, they all live in the same postcode. Sadiq was an excellent boy, he was very close to me and his family.' Advertisement

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