A former gang member who now works to prevent violence has said police claims knife crime is falling "have no bearing  on reality".

A disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act revealed there was an everage of nearly one knife crime reported every day in Waltham Forest last year.

And Sheridan Mangal, chairman of A Better Way Partnership (ABWP) which works closely with police and the council to tackle gang violence, said there had been an escalation in violence in recent months. 

But the police and council still insisted knife crime had fallen, pointing to official statistics which show a 7.3 per cent decrease. 

However Colin James, of Gangs Unite, a non-for-profit organisation which intervenes to prevent violence in Waltham Forest, said many incidents go unreported as victims do not notify police or seek treatment.

The 45-year-old said: “It is seen as a weakness to go to hospital.

"You must bear it yourself and bandage it yourself, like in the movies.

“Only when it becomes unbearable and life threatening, or if it doesn’t stop bleeding, do people go to hospital."

And he believes police tactics to deal with the problem are not working.

“The police must be seen to be reducing crime, especially violent crime," he said.

“But people aren’t silly they are aware of what is going on around them. 

"Every knife incident affects entire families and communities.

“I know when shots are fired on some estates police will not even respond, because they know there will be no arrest at the end of it.

“If they changed their tactics on stop-and-search, if they carried it out in an orderly manner, explained why they were searching people, they would get a lot more information.”

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Colin James believes youth employment is the only way to break the cycle of violence

Colin was stabbed four times during a “previous life” as a gang member and has first-hand experience of diffusing potentially fatal incidents involving knives and guns.

He said the recent escalation in incidents was down to the tit-for-tat ethos of the streets and long-running grievances.

Colin continued: “A lot of these new skirmishes are individual based on retaliation.

"Old rivalries have started up again.

“If you have gone to prison and are thinking about one person who may have done you wrong for four years the first thing you will want to do when your out is retaliate."

Colin said youth employment is key to winning the battle and ending the cycle of violence.

He said: “In America they have a saying: 'nothing stops a bullet like a job.

“A lot of these wars are to do with money. 

"Kids are jealous of others people’s money and want to earn more than them or take it themselves.

“But when people are earning money legally, it grows them as a person when they are given a stake in society. 

"I have seen kids transform overnight.”