The leader of one of London’s most notorious gangs has backed a multi-million pound campaign to help poor Lambeth children stay away from crime through music.

Elijah Kerr, founder of the PDC - or Peel Dem Crew - said it was vital young people from deprived areas were given arts activities like the new In Harmony programme to draw them away from the threat of gangs.

Like many young people, Elijah’s dream was to work in music, but he did not get opportunities and was sucked into a life of crime aged just 11.

But Elijah, also known as JaJa, has now renounced violence, changed the PDC’s name to Poverty Driven Children and legitimised his operation by turning it into a record label.

The 28-year-old said: “This kind of project should have happened a long time ago. It would have saved a lot of hurt, pain, violence and people’s lives who are dead now.”

Lambeth has been chosen as one of three pilot areas for the Government’s £3m In Harmony programme, making it easier for pupils from deprived areas to take up a musical instrument.

The cash will be split between Lambeth, Liverpool and Norwich to pay for music tuition in schools over the next three years.

In addition the London Symphony Orchestra will work with schools, and pupils as young as four will be offered the chance to play with other top orchestras at leading music venues.

The In Harmony scheme is based on a Venezuelan youth orchestra scheme, El Sistema, which has helped more than 500,000 children avoid a life of crime and drugs.

Young people from the Angell Town estate in Brixton - home of the PDC and Elijah - are among those who will benefit from the programme.

It will be run from the nearby Lansdowne Green Estate by Lambeth Music Service and the Southbank Centre.

The scheme has also benefited from a musical instrument amnesty No Strings Attached, where people are asked to donate a musical instrument they no longer use.

Singer Sting’s bass guitar was one of a number of instruments handed to Lambeth school children by cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and Mayor Boris Johnson at a ceremony last week.