London gangs 'drawing up "sket lists" of women to rape in revenge attacks against rivals'



London gangs draw up lists of rivals' girlfriends and relatives to target

'Sket lists' - perjorative street slang for women - distributed by members



Use of sexual violence an attempt to create fear and intimidate rivals

Comes amid recent calls for gangs to stop a bloody 'turf war' in London



London gang members are drawing up lists of women to rape as a means of extracting revenge on their rivals, it has been claimed.

Attacks on the women, who are usually related to rival gang members, are reportedly taking place in daylight - often when the victims are walking or travelling home.

The attacks are targeted - with sisters, girlfriends and other relatives of rival gang members selected and then preyed upon as means of intimidation or revenge.

Police have said sexual violence against women by gangs is a priority now gun and knife offences have declined

The revelation of the use of sexual violence by gangs comes as a judge recently called for an end to a 'Medieval turf war' on the streets of London.



Claire Hubberstey, chief executive of Safer London Foundation, told The Observer gangs were using sexual violence to intimidate or inflict pain on rivals in the same way they used dangerous dogs .

'Criminals are clever, they know if they are caught carrying weapons they face a lengthy sentence; it's risky carrying a gun.

'The use of sexual violence is the same sort of thing as having a dangerous dog; it creates fear, it's non-traceable and they are also taking advantage of low rape convictions even when there are witnesses.'

Sitting at the Old Bailey, Judge John Bevan, QC, described a long-standing feud between two gangs as a 'Medieval turf war'

The 'sket lists' - taken from a pejorative street slang word for a woman - are distributed among gang members via the Blackberry Messaging service.

As a result, police now say sexual violence is a 'top' priority.

The revelations follow an Old Bailey trial in which two men were found guilty of murder in what Judge John Bevan QC described as a long-standing feud between warring Turkish gangs.

Calling for the families to end the fighting, the judge said: ‘The use of the streets of this city for fighting a Medieval turf war using hired hands as hitmen is as intolerable as it is unacceptable.’

Earlier this year Scotland Yard warned some of London's most dangerous gangs were expanding their criminal activities across the UK, with around 54 gangs from the capital thought to have stretched into other towns and cities.

