Tell me Mr Clarke, how did gang of 24 murder my son?

THE FAMILY of a teenager stabbed to death in the street angrily confronted Home Secretary Charles Clarke to demand more action over London's growing knife crime.

Mahir Osman was attacked by up to 24 youths outside Camden Tube station on Saturday night. He would have been 19 on Monday.

Last night his father, Abdirhaman, and other relatives confronted the Home Secretary yards from where Mahir was stabbed. Fatima Osman, Mahir's aunt, told Mr Clarke: "It is up to politicians to make the streets safe before things like this happen. We can't have knives in the street. You have to do something."

Mr Clarke agreed and said: "You are a million per cent correct. I want to do everything I can to help the police carry out their investigation. Those decisions are rightfully for the courts.

"The one thing that I can absolutely guarantee is that the police will work very, very, very hard to try to find the people who did this."

He also hinted that he could call for a knife amnesty in Camden and said that cannabis peddlers would face a rougher ride.

Mr Clarke, who was in Camden to promote the the Asbo scheme, added: "There is a problem that needs to be addressed. Have we abolished crime? No we haven't. Do we need to do a lot more to fight crime? Yes we do."

Police arrested 24 youths trying to flee the scene on a double decker bus.

They have since been bailed. Four others escaped after smashing top floor windows and jumping out.

Det Chief Inspector Mick Broster said: "This was a particularly ferocious attack where a young man's life was taken away." Police say they are keeping an open mind as to the motive and would not comment on reports of a feud between rival gangs. Mahir's friends and family say he was an innocent bystander, not part of a gang.

Mr Osman, 70, told today how his family fled war-torn Somalia for a better life in Britain. He said Mahir "would always make you smile and laugh". "The thought that he was in a gang is rubbish - he was too smart and too honest.

He was in the wrong place at the wrong time." Mahir was studying engineering at City of Westminster College in Paddington and was considering working for his uncle's company in Canada after finishing university.

His parents divorced five years ago, but, unlike his two brothers Adi, 17, and Faisal, 23, Mahir chose to stay with his father and the two shared a flat on Adelaide Road, near Swiss Cottage.

"We had a specially close relationship and enjoyed talking with each other," said Mr Osman. "But he would always spend time at his mother's house and was close to his brothers."

Mahir's aunt Fatima said: "The night before he was killed, he was in bed by 9.30pm - does that sound like a gang member to you?"

She said Mahir loved sport and played basketball and football with friends, after college.

He was particularly keen on following Italian football, and his cousin is Lazio captain Fabio Liverani - the first black footballer to play for Italy.

Mrs Osman continued: "He's never seen Fabio play and I know that he really wanted to plan a trip to Italy to see him play or watch his favourite team, AC Milan."

Anyone with information about the attack should ring 020 7321 7228 or if you wish to remain anonymous, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: PAGE 12

KNIVES are now the weapon of choice for the criminal youth of London.

Over 12,000 kniferelated offences take place every year on the streets of the capital and the numbers are increasing.

Research by the Met showed half of the people accused of a robbery using a knife were aged 15 to 18.

Latest figures also show that 33 people fell victim to criminals with knives every day during 2004-5- a quarter of them children.

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