In the last month, four young people have been stabbed, one person has been shot and two firearms have been discharged. Anthony King, youth worker, says the problem is that young people are becoming ‘desensitised’. ‘It’s like going to McDonald’s. It’s like going to a shop, hearing of another stabbing. It’s just a part of the norm for young people’ Lorraine Dudek, the mother of a 14-year old schoolboy who was stabbed to death outside Croydon railway station has called for tougher laws on knife crime. She says ‘there’s a horrendous mentality amongst young people in Croydon, with a lack of regard for life.’