Streets more deadly than Afghanistan

A TEENAGE murder victim’s heartbroken dad today warns that gangs of youngsters are making our streets BLOODIER than war-torn Afghanistan.

Charles Hendricks spoke out after his 18-year-old son CJ became the 24th teenager to die in London’s knife and gun crimewave.

The devastated dad said: “Today it seems you’re more likely to die if you’re a teenager in London than a soldier in Afghanistan.

“The streets of London are not a battlefield. But these youngsters seem to think they are, the way they call each other ‘soldiers’. Don’t they realise the only thing that happens in war is death?”

Message

Mr Hendricks urged the government to act quickly to halt the stabbings and shootings—and he gave his backing to the News of the World’s long-running Save Our Streets campaign to curb the mayhem.

“Something must be done to stop this happening to others,” he said. “Politicians are failing to take a moral lead and show violence is wrong.

“The government should be sending out a clear message. Instead, society is all going wrong. And because of that my son is dead.”

College student CJ (real name Charles Junior) was stabbed to death two weeks ago in a park at Walthamstow, east London, in the early hours of a Sunday morning.

Mr Hendricks, whose wife Melanie was too traumatised to speak at their home in nearby Leytonstone, said: “We still can’t get our heads round the fact that CJ won’t come walking in.

“We are all hurting very badly. We can’t bring him back, but something needs to be done to stop this happening again—so other families don’t have to go through this pain.”

It has been speculated that CJ was an innocent victim of a turf war between rival gangs. But his father insisted: “He may have known people who were in gangs, but he was the sort who’d try to keep them out of trouble.

“I tried to help my son all I could as he grew up but the government has done nothing. Schools and parents are not allowed to discipline children.

“Everyone is just left to do as they please. It needs the experts getting together to find a solution—something radical that will shock these kids.”

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with CJ’s murder and remanded in custody for trial at the Old Bailey.

Four other teenagers have been quizzed and released on police bail pending further inquiries. Police have appealed for anyone with information to call them on 020 8345 3715.