New gun laws 'won't deter young'

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Alan Gordon, vice-chairman of the Police Federation, was speaking in the aftermath of the fatal stabbing of 14-year-old Paul Erhahon on Friday.

He told the BBC some people had a "scant regard" for human life, which would not be combated by the Violent Crime Reduction Act.

Paul became the seventh Londoner under 16 to be murdered since the end of January when he collapsed in the street as he staggered from the attack by youths in the foyer of a block of flats in Leytonstone, east London.

A 15-year-old stabbed in the same attack remains critically ill in hospital.

Police are continuing to question two teenagers - one 19 and the other 13 - who are being held in separate London police stations.

The Violent Crime Reduction Act came into force last week and introduced a range of new offences relating to gun and knife crime. The new laws make it an offence to get someone else to carry or hide guns and knives.

Mr Gordon said he thought the intention to try to control violent crime was good, but added that he was cynical whether legislation was the right answer.

He said: "People who seem to have such a scant regard for human life I don't think are going to be dissuaded in their actions by new legislation."

Norman Brennan, of the Victims of Crime Trust, said: "You can make sentences for those who carry guns as high as you want but many young teenagers have no fear of life and live or die by the gun, so however high the sentence it will not deter them."