Footballers join battle against knife crime

Police have searched 55,000 people for knives in a three-month crackdown on stabbings, the Home Secretary said yesterday during a press conference with England footballers.

Jacqui Smith, speaking after two more teenagers died of knife wounds at the weekend, said more than 2,500 people were arrested and 1,600 knives seized.

She was joined by David Beckham, David James and Rio Ferdinand as they backed the Government's "it doesn't need to happen" campaign aimed at warning teenagers about knife crime.

Beckham revealed that when he was a teenager the brother of one of his closest friends was stabbed in the back and paralysed while trying to stop a fight.

Ferdinand, who went to the same school in south-east London as Stephen Lawrence, said his murder in 1993 had a profound impact on him. "I will never forget the day the headmaster brought the school to a halt and said Stephen was killed the night before," he said.