Battersea Olympic hopeful Darius Knight slams soft knife crime sentences (From Your Local Guardian)

Battersea Olympic hopeful Darius Knight slams soft knife crime sentences

5:20pm Tuesday 30th December 2008 in

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A 2012 Olympic hopeful from Battersea, who turned his back on gangs, has slammed the soft sentences being handed out to knife thugs.

Table tennis ace Darius Knight, 18, who was raised on a tough council estate, told the Sun: "Gang members use knives because they know they won't get heavy sentences.

"A lot see mates slash rivals and get away with it, so they think that's the route to take.

"I went to school with one lad who was shot dead at 16.

"Another boy I played table tennis with was stabbed to death at 15," he added.

Darius now hopes to encourage other youngsters to turn their back on gang crime.

He said: "A lot of problems are caused by kids who have nothing to do, but sport gave me a focus and a brighter future."