Blunkett hosts gun summit

Police will today tell David Blunkett they cannot wipe out Britain's escalating gun culture without better education and job prospects for young people attracted to a life of crime.

Commander Alan Brown, who heads the Met's Operation Trident team which investigates black-on-black shootings, will tell the Home Secretary of a year of progress in London, in spite of overall firearm offences running at record levels of 11 per day as gun crimes leapt to 4,192 from 2,817 the previous year.

Trident dealt with 179 shootings and 18 murders in the first 11 months of last year, but the real breakthrough is that murder clear-ups have improved from 24 per cent to 70 per cent - partly because intelligence-gathering is now more sophisticated, but also because the community has begun to break its silence.

Today's gun summit comes after figures yesterday revealed that gun crime was up by 35 per cent last year and offences involving handguns rose 46 per cent.

Mr Brown said: "I believe we can contain the problem but not eradicate it. Eradication must come from social measures like education and employment opportunities.

"We have to find a way of showing youngsters attracted to a life of crime and casual violence that they can be involved in society and they can contribute to society."