Teenage knife carriers 'like caged animals'

VIOLENT crime is spiralling on inner-city housing estates because young people living on them feel like caged animals, MPs heard today.

One young Londoner told the home sffairs select committee that some of those on the capital's most notorious estates felt there was no escape.

Peter Nzekwu, 22, from the Prince's Trust, claimed that teenagers carried knives out of fear and frustration.

"Young people carry knives and fight because of the sense of pride. Even too much eye contact can lead to someone getting attacked," he told the MPs.

"Young people growing up are wild. The estates that we live in, the way the Government have made it, we feel like we're caged and there's nothing we can do. As soon as you let us out of our cage, the hostility is already there."

The knife crime hearing follows the recent stabbing of Nabeer Bakurally, 19, in Ilford, bringing the number of London teenagers killed this year to 28.