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Like many young people in London he is afraid of the growing culture of knife crime amongst teenagers and worries that he could be one of the next victims.

He said: “Every time I’m walking home from wherever, I always look back to see if someone’s there.

“I’m so scared about what people have been doing. Knowing that people out there might want to stab me.

“I don’t want to be the next one.�

The youngsters discuss crime

Talk about crime

Bobby is just one of the youngsters who goes to the Canning Town South Detached Youth Project at Youth House, in Canning Town.

Discussing the topic of violence is high on the agenda at the centre, in the hope that bringing it out in the open will help to stop it.

The manager of youth house Lynne Steer is running a number of different projects which aim to help the young people talk about this type of crime.

She explained: “What we are trying to do is discuss knife crime in a creative way. We have a project where they are writing anti-gun and knife lyrics and we are also using art.

“So rather than just saying to young people ‘don’t carry knives’ we are using a variety of positive ways to talk about it.

Knife amnesty

“Knife crime is real but it’s got to be kept in context. Statistically young people are more likely to be the victims of knife crime.

“But the message we are trying to get across to the young people is you are more likely to be injured by your own knife, then by anybody who is coming to attack you.�

One of the schemes the youngsters can take part in is the brainchild of local blacksmith Kevin Boys.

He has come up with an idea which involves reusing knives collected by local police during an amnesty in Newham.

And on a sunny autumn afternoon, he sets up his forge under a canopy just outside the youth centre.

'Good material'

Surrendered kitchen knives, meat cleavers and swords are heated up in a fire and then the youngsters are given the chance to bash them up on an anvil.

Young people fear knife crime

They are molded into the shapes of flowers which symbolise peace – the opposite of the meaning they are usually associated with.

Mr Boys explained: “It goes back to the 1960s when there were students painting flowers onto tanks and putting flowers down the barrels of soldiers guns, so we’ve seen it as an image of peace for a long time.

“When we heard about the knife amnesty we wondered what was happening to the knives. We thought there was some good material there and maybe we could make something out of it.

Reminder of danger

“And the children absolutely love it. There are not many places you can say to a child here is a large hammer please hit this very hard.�

Once the flowers have been painted, Mr Boys is going to turn them into the boarder for a clock that will sit outside the youth centre.

It is hoped that this will act as a reminder to the young people who go there of the dangers of knife crime.

But for now, Bobby and the other youngsters seem to think that working with the Blacksmith has helped them.

He said: “You get to know the reason why all these things happen and you can just avoid them.�