Gang Culture
The victim of the latest murder - Seydou Diarrasouba (18) - was himself in court last week and was due to stand trial having been accused of robbing another boy (16) of his Blackberry mobile phone.
At the Inner London Crown Court - just a week before he was stabbed to death - Seydou was accused of robbing and assaulting Nile Downs in South London - and of assaulting Nile's brother Yafeu - back in September 2011.
Young Seydou was due to stand trial in the New Year - but was released on bail - before being knifed through the heart - in what appears to have been a fight between rival gangs in a Foot Locker trainer-shoe store - just off Oxford Street.
Apparently clashes between the two rival gangs have claimed several lives since 2007 - so the Metropolitan Police have their work cut out to get on top of the problem.
Having lived and worked in London - and visited there recently - it's pretty clear there is a big social issue to be tackled.
If anyone has any sense it will be done on an all-party basis - without trying to turn the issue into a party political football.
Because at the heart of it is criminal behaviour and a casual disregard for human life - with most of the victims coming from one of London's many ethnic minority groups.
