“There is a war going on in the United Kingdom. If we don’t do anything, things are going to get bad,” says Michael, a 24-year-old from south London who has just been released from prison after serving a sentence for stabbing a man. Speaking to me from an undisclosed location, he fears reprisals for his story.
In April 2022, Michael, then a member of a gang, attacked a rival on a busy shopping street in Maidstone. “I stabbed him three times. Luckily, he didn’t die,” Michael recalls.
Michael pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to two years and eight months. Reflecting on the attack, he explains, “He beefs my crew, so I have to stab him so people can respect me.” But when he was arrested, he quickly realised that “respect” meant nothing, he was left alone in a prison cell, forgotten by the outside world. “Be ready to sit in a prison cell for hours and hours, while people forget about you,” he says.
Michael was drawn into gang life as a teenager, a path influenced by multiple factors. His father’s imprisonment caused his school attendance to drop, and his mother’s long working hours left her unaware that he was not attending school. “There’s no food in the fridge, no electricity for one week. You are 15, thinking you have to provide for your family,” he recalls.
The allure of gang life was strong. Michael joined a group of youngsters who thought the gang lifestyle was “cool” and offered the respect they lacked. “I offered the gang recklessness,” he admits, describing how he would buy knives for the group, including machetes and zombie knives, hiding them in his tracksuit bottoms and pocket.
At the same time, Michael got involved in drill music under the name WoolyO, but his videos put a target on his back. He was lured into a “honeytrap” by a woman who led him to a hotel, where rival gang members were lying in wait. “I look across. I just see 10 people emerging, running after me, trying to kill me,” he says.
A mother told the BBC her son had been targeted in a similar way. After being relocated due to a council move, she explained that he could no longer walk down the street without the risk of being stabbed. “His life is in danger,” she said.
Knife crime in London has been rising. Between March 2024 and February 2025, the Metropolitan Police recorded 15,182 incidents of knife crime, up 2.7% from the previous year. Gun crime also spiked, with 1,958 offences recorded during the same period, an increase of 31.9%.
Despite this, London’s deputy mayor for policing and crime, Kaya Comer-Schwartz, pointed to some progress. “Thanks to the mayor’s proactivity, homicides, gun crime, lethal barrel discharges and the number of young people being injured with knives have all fallen in London since 2016,” she said. However, she acknowledged there is still much more to do.
Since Michael’s release, two teenagers have been killed in separate incidents: 14-year-old Kelyan Bokassa, stabbed on a London bus in Woolwich in January, and 16-year-old Lathaniel Burrell, shot in Stockwell in March.
Michael now wants to help prevent further deaths. He hopes to encourage young people to reject gang life, which he believes “makes no sense.” He also calls on older gang members to stop using teenagers for their “dirty work.”
He is urging the government to invest more in families struggling within the UK, rather than focusing on conflicts overseas.
Mark Rodney, from Project Lifeline, is also working with older gang members in hopes of saving younger lives. “Our aim is to get the older generation of these guys around the table to discuss ways forward for each individual gang,” he says. “Children are dying. If survival is your game, don’t let killing be your legacy.”
