London's knife crime hotspots revealed

Sixteen of the 20 most dangerous places in England and Wales for serious knife crime offences are in London, a BBC investigation has found.

The West End area of Westminster has the highest rate in the country with 35.5 violent knife crimes per 10,000 residents.

Haringey, Islington, Hackney, Camden and Brent also feature highly.

Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said tackling knife crime in London remained her "number one priority".

So far this year more than 110 murder investigations have been launched across the capital by the Met and British Transport Police.

About two-thirds of the deaths in those cases resulted from stabbings.

Ms Dick said: "Most people go about their business completely untroubled by crime or indeed violence.

"But we do have some parts of London which have been really troubled by violence and it is our job to work with people to reduce violence."

The number of people being charged with a serious knife crime offence in London has gone down, according to data obtained from the Met.

Ms Dick said this was "part of a national trend".

She added: "Everybody in the criminal justice system needs to work together and say 'what can we do to increase the number of arrests, charges and people going to prison?'."

Speaking to BBC London, Ms Dick said she hoped the Met would benefit from extra police officers as part of a national pledge by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

However, Paul Barnes - whose 16-year-old son Quamari was stabbed to death yards away from his school in Neasden - said he felt not a lot had improved since his son was killed in January 2017.

"Everyone hopes their child will be the last one," Mr Barnes said. "But it has become a problem not just in London but in England.

"We have a major problem on our hands.

"It's all down to funding. It just needs to be in the right places. There are people who do some great work and they just are not getting funded properly, they need money to help with the situation.

"Sixteen hotspots in London are right in the top, that's a big problem. Since my son has passed I've not seen any signs of improving."

Quamari Serunkuma-Barnes, 15, was chased and stabbed three times outside Capital City Academy in Willesden