Katy Perry's flick knife photo provokes a storm

The father of murdered schoolboy Damilola Taylor has reacted in fury to pictures of singer Katy Perry posing with a knife.

Cutting edge? The Katy Perry picture that has sparked protest

Publicity photos of the I Kissed A Girl star holding a blade leaked on to the internet last night, hours after Army cadet Joey Lappin, 16, became the latest teenager to be stabbed to death. He was killed by a Liverpool gang.

Richard Taylor, whose son was aged 10 when he was fatally wounded on a Peckham housing estate in 2000, said Perry was "out of her mind".

Mr Taylor, an ardent anti-knife campaigner, added: "There is nothing glamorous about knives - they wreck families. Any youngsters seeing her will think it is OK to carry a blade."

He was backed by actress Brooke Kinsella, whose 16-year-old brother Ben was stabbed to death in June. She said: "Celebrities are role models so their management and record label should think about the consequences."

The snap - see above - shows a dishevelled Perry, 23, holding a flick knife. A source at the photo shoot, for the Californian's debut album One Of The Boys, said: "The picture was to give Katy more of a sexy, harder edge."