Martin Griffiths says the level of violent crime is similar to that in the US or South Africa

A leading trauma surgeon has predicted a summer of “carnage” if alarming rates of youth violence continue across the capital.

Martin Griffiths said that treating children with knife and gunshot wounds had become “the bread and butter” of his work at the Royal London Hospital in east London.

He said that the warmer weather would further inflame violence among young Londoners and that the severity and frequency of attacks had reached a level he would expect in South Africa or the US.

A rise in violent crime across London has left more than 60 people dead from stabbings and shootings since the start of the year. Teenagers and children were at least five times more likely to be stabbed than adults during the past four