A teenage youth councillor shocked and horrified by the number of stabbings in London has spoken out about the issue.

Hannah Chowdhry, 15, an Essex Youth Councillor from Chigwell, has written a letter to the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Prime Minister Theresa May and Essex Council Leader David Finch in a bid to boost action against knife crime.

She has been an active advocate against knife crime supporting peace campaigns launched by her father, Wilson Chowdhry and creating monuments with her siblings in an effort to thwart knife violence.

She wrote: "As a passionate anti-knife crime advocate and I am extremely concerned about the rising level of violent crime we are seeing on the streets of London and Essex.

"I attend school in Redbridge and during my first year our whole school was mortified to hear of the murder of Charlie Kutyauripo, aged 15. It is unimaginably shocking to me to think that Charlie was the same age as me now and that had his whole life ahead of him.

"I vividly remember the day that I heard of this tragic news.

"It was at our school assembly when I was just 11 years old. The horrifying and unnatural death frightened us and made us wonder whether we too could fall victim to such atrocities.

"My parents and I were worried about my safety travelling to and from school, especially after a further teenager was stabbed from my school only a year later - it took until this year for my parents to allow me to travel to school alone.

"Mr Kutyauripo's murder was said to be gang-related - connected to a post he published on Instagram threatening murder to his eventual killer Aaron Gaiete.

"But, I know of other murders that are the result of personal vendettas and know that knife crimes are usually by their nature very personal crimes.

"Charlotte Polious was killed in April 2005 and is believed to be the first London teenager stabbed in a teen attack in London.

"She was invited to a 16th birthday party when she was fatally stabbed in the neck with an ice-pick by a gatecrasher, for merely stepping on her toes at a crammed venue.

"The murder of both these two innocent teenagers meant that local police were as shell-shocked as the rest of the community, making it very easy for my father to garner their support for a peace campaign he launched.

"But I have been unable to forget their innocence and it has caused me to do some soul-searching.

"I know that just tackling drugs and eradicating gangs will not solve this problem. We need to change the deeply embedded attitudes and behaviours towards knife violence and introduce peace initiatives, mental health programs and redress violence in a proactive manner.

"I polled more than 30 teenagers in my constituency and in Redbridge and they unanimously suggested that government funding for additional police would help ameliorate violent crime.

"Young teenagers all feel more visible policing, especially boots on the ground, to restore confidence and curtail the bravado of those carrying knives.

"From my research, I found that most teenagers would have no qualms with stop and search operations by police authorities. Adults have raised concerns that stop, search and seizure operations would be invasive, but teenagers would rather be safe and inconvenienced for a few moments than dead.

"Positive social outlets for teenagers may help to curtail violence as there seems to be a relationship between knife crime and boredom, loneliness and social fragmentation.

"Some teenagers also raised the idea of harsher penalties and restorative justice where perpetrators are made to listen to parents whose children they have killed or parents from other similar incidents if deemed more appropriate.

"Harsher penalties would act as a deterrent and restorative justice would force perpetrators to face what they have done and witness to the pain they caused.

"We teenagers believe perpetrators of murder and violent crimes should be treated harshly and made aware of the impact of their actions.

"Young people feel that opportunities to share our diversity in the shape of community events would help bring people together, generate a sense of community and dispel myths about other cultures which can be a source of disunity.

"This could be done through local public events and local schools should be required to ensure their pupils are informed about these events and have access to volunteer opportunities.

"More should be done with regards to disaffected children especially those who are financially deprived.

"It is obvious that many intelligent but financially-challenged young people get drawn into drugs and gangs in an attempt to gain some sense of worth.

"Better parenting classes, a robust benefits systems that reduces child poverty and access to free, in-school, counselling services throughout the school day would not only reduce violent crime but other issues such as bullying and self-harm.

"Schools should adopt a zero-tolerance approach to bullying as it often precedes violent crime and can be at the heart of many of these issues.

"Many teenagers I spoke to also believe schools should provide and encourage participation in self-defence and first aid classes but in my opinion schools should also advise students of the reality that it is often safer to flee dangerous situations.

"While I have highlighted a number of issues of concern, the notion that schools are dangerous places is a faux-pas.

"Every youth I received a response from suggested that they felt more safe at their school than on the streets.

"Knife arches and more police at schools is not the key to a solution, although more visits from the police would be encouraging especially in sharing how they are tackling crime and where we can go for help.

"Moreover, it is behaviour on our streets and the hearts and minds of young people where we should channel our focus for a safer future."