“Feral” knife attacks in which victims are stabbed multiple times with vicious weapons including machetes are driving up London's murder rate, police have warned.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said that stabbings are becoming increasingly violent in the capital, where more than 70 people have been murdered so far this year.

Speaking at the London Knife Crime Summit, he said: “The violence is getting greater. If I was stood here five years ago, I would probably be talking about knife offences where there was generally a single puncture wound.

"We are now routinely seeing multiple stabbings. That is one individual stabbing somebody multiple times.

"And increasingly seeing group offending as well. By that I don't mean there's a group and one person is stabbing, I mean there's a group of people who are all using weapons.

"Some of the CCTV footage that we see is shocking and quite frankly feral when you look at a group of individuals bearing down on another person.”

He was speaking days after a 15-year-old boy was beaten and stabbed by more than five assailants in three attacks that were launched seconds apart.

Aspiring rapper Jordan Douherty died of his injuries outside a birthday party in Romford and four teenage boys have since been arrested as police continue to appeal for witnesses to come forward.

Mr Hewitt said that weapons including zombie knives, hunting knives, and machetes are being used more often, prompting a proposed ban on possessing some of the most dangerous weapons in public or private.

Over the last week alone, police in London have seized six guns, 135 knives and other weapons including CS spray.

Violent knife fight erupts on Victoria line in London

Mr Hewitt said only sheer “luck” and first aid by police and paramedics allow stabbing victims to survive what could be fatal wounds.

“Every single time anybody uses a knife against another person that is potentially a murder,” he added.

”I have large numbers of officers now all over London who are routinely administering what you would call trauma medicine on the pavement and on the street in London to people who have been stabbed. And then the work obviously of paramedics and the doctors and everybody else that comes in.

“But the more violent the offences, the more chance there is that somebody is going to receive a fatal wound and I think that is part of why we have ended up where we are with the murder rate.”

He said reducing violent crime was a priority for the Metropolitan Police, which is using neighbourhood policing, patrols, diversion initiatives, stop and search and a dedicated Violent Crime Taskforce.

“The police response is part of the solution, but we have been clear that we cannot arrest our way out of this problem, and there needs to be a concerted effort from all agencies and communities to reduce the level of violence on our streets,” Mr Hewitt added.

Knife crime in England and Wales has rocketed by 22 per cent across in a year and robberies by a third.

Scotland Yard’s latest statistics show a 5 per cent rise in violence across London in the year to April, while knife crime is up 18 per cent, muggings up 30 per cent and youth homicide up a quarter in the same period.

The mayor’s office pointed to figures showing that the number of police officers in London had fallen to the lowest level in 20 years from 4.1 per 1,000 residents in 2010 to 3.3 officers per 1,000 today, putting the decline to “crippling government cuts to police spending”.

It said police spending per head has dropped faster in the Met than any other police force in England and Wales, due to rapid population growth combined with budget savings of £720m in the past eight years.

The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Show all 21 1 /21 The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Oluwadamilolda Odeyingbo Oluwadamilolda Odeyingbo, 18, was killed in a fight in Chislehurst on 10 January 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Hasan Ozcan Hasan Ozcan, 19, was stabbed to death on the Gascoigne Estate in Barking on 3 February 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Sabri Chibani Sabri Chibani, 19, was stabbed fatally in the chest in Streatham on 11 February 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Promise Nkenda Lord Promise Nkenda, 17, was stabbed to death in Canning Town on 14 February 2018 Facebook The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Lewis Blackman Lewis Blackman, a 19-year-old rapper from Kentish Town, was stabbed to death in Kensington on 18 February 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Abdikarim Hassan Abdikarim Hassan, 17, was stabbed to death near his home in Camden's Peckwater estate on 20 March - less tahan two hours before another man was stabbed to death nearby Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Kelvin Odunuyi Kelvin Odunuyi, a 19-year-old rapper known as DipDat and Lampz, was shot dead in Wood Green on 8 March Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Lyndon Davis Lyndon Davis, 18, was chased down and stabbed to death in Chadwell Heath on 14 March Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Tanesha Melbourne-Blake Tanesha Melbourne, 17, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Tottenham on 2 April PA The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Amaan Shakoor Amaan Shakoor, 16, was shot dead in Walthamstow on 2 April Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Israel Ogunsola Israel Ogunsola, 18, was stabbed to death in Hackney on 4 April Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton, a 17-year-old rapper and aspiring architect, was shot dead in a Kennington Street on 5 May Handout The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Jordan Douherty Aspiring rapper Jordan Douherty died of his injuries outside a birthday party in Romford on 23 June Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Katrina Makunova Katrina Makunova, 17, was stabbed to death in Camberwell on 12 July 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Latwaan Griffiths 18-year-old Latwaan Griffiths was fatally stabbed on 25 July and died in hospital after being thrown off the back of a moped in Camberwell Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Guled Farah Guled Farah, 19, was shot in Walthamstow on 22 September Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Ethan Nedd-Bruce Ethan Nedd-Bruce, 18, died after he was shot outside a party at a flat in Greenwich, south-east London, on 22 October. He had also been stabbed, but the gunshot wound was the cause of death. Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Jay Hughes Jay Hughes, 15, died was fatally stabbed outside a chicken shop in Bellingham, south-east London, on 1 November Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Malcolm Mide-Madariola Malcolm Mide-Madariola, 17, was found suffering from a stab wound outside Clapham South Tube station on 2 November Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 John Ogunjobi John Ogunjobi, 16, died in front of his parents after he was stabbed in Greenleaf Close, Tulse Hill, on 5 November Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Aron Warren Aron Warren, 18, was found stabbed in a flat block in Greenwich on 8 December and died at the scene Metropolitan Police

Sadiq Khan, who organised Wednesday’s summit, accused the government of worsening crime with police cuts, after increasing funding for Scotland Yard by £138m to recruit an additional 1,000 officers.

Home secretary Sajid Javid has vowed to prioritise police funding in an upcoming government spending review but Mr Khan said the pledge came “too late”.

“The level of knife crime across our country, including London, is simply unacceptable. We’re doing everything we can, in City Hall, to tackle this scourge,” he added.

“The figures released today show the true scale of government cuts to police funding that have hit our city harder than anywhere else in the UK.”

The government’s first ever Serious Violence Strategy was heavily criticised for omitting findings from a leaked Home Office document suggesting that budget cuts had “likely contributed” to rising violence and “encouraged” offenders.

It named drivers including changes in the drugs trade, the rise of “county lines” gangs that brutally control supply into rural areas, and incitement on social media.

The use of British-born children for sex or as drug mules has made them the largest group of potential modern slaves in the UK.

“It is drawing younger and younger people into that world, so they are becoming exposed to criminality, they are becoming exposed to violence, they are being forced into actually taking part in the violence and all of that is desensitising them even further,” Mr Hewitt said.

Barnardo’s revealed that its services were dealing with increasing numbers of children at risk of criminal exploitation, seeing them present to almost 60 per cent of its services.

Of those, nearly three quarters thought the young person had been coerced, controlled, deceived or manipulated by others into criminal activity.

“Some of these young people are forced to carry weapons, carry and sell drugs, go missing and end up in other parts of the country, and are subjected to sexual exploitation and abuse,” the charity warned.