The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson has sent a personal message to the family of murdered teenager Wesley Sterling.

Speaking to the Croydon Guardian, Mr Johnson said: “I feel very deeply for their loss. I want to assure the family everybody in City Hall and everybody in the Metropolitan Police is working to find the people responsible for this crime and we are determined to work even harder with all of the tools we have at our disposal to make sure kids like Wesley don’t suffer.”

He said gangs and knife crime remained a “huge problem” in the capital.

Mr Johnson, who was electioneering in New Addington last week, said: “We have got to face the reality that young kids love to join gangs. A lot of those gangs are not bad gangs but some of them can lead to this kind of violence.

“We have had a huge programme of stop and search and have lifted 9,000 knives off the streets of London, that is the right thing to do. We are stepping up the stop and search.

“We have got to punish the kids who are caught and ensure there are stiff sentences for them.”

Mr Johnson said he was looking to expand programmes that get children off the streets and involved in after-school clubs, as well as getting “problem” children into mentoring programmes.

He said: “It is still true the overall figures on knife crime is well down on the peak in 2007.

“I am pleased to see the figures going in the right direction.”