Findings emerge in week in which five people were stabbed to death in London

Victims and perpetrators of serious youth violence frequently lack a relationship with their mothers and may be lacking any kind of relationship with a trusted adult, according to unpublished research.

The findings were highlighted after a period of six days in which five people were fatally stabbed in London – three of whom were under 18, bringing the total of deaths in violent circumstances in the capital this year to 119.

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According to the minutes of the London assembly’s police and crime committee, the interim findings of research carried out by Croydon council showed “maternal absence was a very important feature” in the cases of dozens of young people subject to serious case reviews after they were embroiled in serious youth violence.

Hamida Ali, Croydon council’s cabinet member for community safety, told the hearing: “Not one of those young people had – as the jargon goes – a relationship with a trusted adult. Forget a parent; not a grandparent, not an uncle or an aunt, not a neighbour, not a mentor, not a family friend. I think that is very powerful in terms of … love and attention for our young people.”

In every case, the young people involved had been excluded from school and were known to the local authority. “And in some instances, before they were born, their mothers were known to us,” Ali added.

John Poyton, the founder of Redthread, an organisation that works with young people admitted to hospital after being being injured in violent incidents, called for a greater examination of the reasons why adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) could lead some down the path of violence while others were able to go on to lead successful lives.

He said: “A risk is that you create a self-fulfilling prophecy that ignores the individual’s resilience. It’s sort of saying: you’re screwed, you’ve got four or more ACEs, you might as well take yourself off to prison or into care now. Just start school in a PRU [pupil referral unit]; there is no point you even bothering.

“That’s just one of the things we need to be wary of. We just need to think smartly, and make sure we don’t have a kneejerk reaction.”

Despite statistics showing a fall in the overall number of murders in London in the past 20 years, a comparative surge since 2016 – partly driven last year by the killings of 14 people in terrorist attacks which pushed the number of murders in the capital to 130 – has sparked fears of lawlessness on the capital’s streets.

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Across England and Wales, there were 268 homicides involving a knife or sharp instrument in the year to March 2018, the latest year for which figures are available. That was a near 25% increase on the previous year and a 13% increase since 2010, according to a Commons Library briefing paper published on Friday.

Hospital data included in the same document showed there were 5,053 hospital admissions due to assault by a sharp object that year, a 14% rise on 2017 and the highest figure since the year to March 2008. One in six of those were of a child aged under 18.

Croydon council declined to elaborate on the findings of its study, which is not due to be published until later this year. Ali said in the London assembly meeting, which was held in September, that she hoped it could help authorities to identify earlier which children were likely to become embroiled in violence.