Teenage stab victim Ben Kinsella made an appeal to Gordon Brown to stamp out knife crime just weeks before losing his own life, it has emerged.

The 16-year-old, who was stabbed to death last weekend, wrote a letter to the Prime Minister as part of his English GCSE coursework, suggesting parenting classes, curfews and youth clubs as possible solutions to the growing problem.

Ben accused the Government of standing by while teenagers were being killed on the streets, and said violence was becoming 'part of our culture'.

Plea: Ben Kinsella urged Gordon Brown to wipe out the scourge of youth violence just weeks before being stabbed to death

He wrote: 'Problems like this will continue to grow unless change starts to happen.

'Society needs to see a difference before it's too late.'

Ben, the brother of former EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella, was stabbed repeatedly in York Way, Islington, north London, at about 2am last Sunday.

Three youths have been charged with his murder.

Ben's letter began with the words: 'Youth violence hits deadly peak. When will it stop?'

He set out figures to highlight the extent of the problem and said it was 'heartbreaking' that so many young people were fighting, the Sun reported today.

Ben's sisters Jade, Brooke and Georgia were among hundreds who marched in Islington to call for an end to knife crime

Ben said a key factor was the lack of respect and trust between parents and children, which could lead to youths staying out on the streets late into the night and getting involved in violence.

'Parents need to consider bringing their children to parenting classes to build a relationship or else lose them for good,' he said.

The teenager asked Mr Brown to follow the example of New York, made safer under the leadership of mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Ben then suggested ways to solve the problem in the UK, such as building youth clubs so teens were 'not sitting around looking for fights with innocent bystanders' and introducing a 10pm curfew for under-18s.

'These solutions can be very easily carried out, and there's a guarantee if they were, there would be a staggering change in a relatively short space of time,' he wrote.

In a poignant end to the letter, Ben appealed to Mr Brown, writing: 'Let's not think about what it will lead to in the future.

'Let's think about how we can change this now.'

The Sun said it would pass on the letter to Mr Brown at the request of Ben's family, who found it in a school book.

On Tuesday, up to 400 protesters marched in Upper Street, Islington, to the scene of the killing to call for an end to knife crime.

Juress Kika, 18, Michael Alleyne, 18, and Jade Braithwaite, 19, appeared at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court yesterday and were remanded in custody until October 13.