A top trauma surgeon has warned Londoners face a summer of “carnage” as youth violence rises across the capital.

Martin Griffiths, who works at the Royal London Hospital in east London, said the warmer weather would result in more bloodshed among youngsters.

He told The Times that treating children with knife and gunshot wounds had become “the bread and butter” of his job.

With more than 60 fatal stabbings and shootings in the capital this year, London was comparable to South Africa or inner-city United States, he said.

The latest murder victim was a 20-year-old man who was stabbed to death in Finsbury Park in the early hours of Saturday.

Two further men were stabbed in broad daylight outside Tooting Bec station in south London on Saturday evening.

And Mr Griffiths warned: "“When it gets a few degrees warmer, it's going to be taxing. It's going to be difficult."

He told the newspaper: "I'm a trauma surgeon, not a paediatric surgeon... but we look after children now — that's what we do. Welcome to the new normal.”

He added that the trauma team at the hospital were able to easily “step up” to last June’s London Bridge terror attack because of the regularity with which they now deal with life-threatening knife wounds.

He said: “We handled a terrorist attack like we handle a busy Saturday night. That's a sobering thought.”

Following the fatal stabbing in Finsbury Park, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: "The Met Police are using extra City Hall resources to fight this scourge and to remove violent criminals and weapons from the streets."

He added: “We are also working tirelessly with the Met Police, community and youth groups, health and education services, and local and national government on preventing young people getting dragged in to lives of violent crime.”