Police community support officers are likely to be drafted in to patrol youth courts in an attempt to stop intimidation of victims and witnesses in violent crime cases.

The plan is part of a package of measures under which senior officers will meet prosecutors and magistrates to impress on them the serious impact knife crime and other violence is having on communities.

They want to make sure that the proper sentences are handed out to act as a deterrent and that a robust approach is taken so that prosecutions can be brought earlier to reduce the opportunity for witnesses and victims to be “got at”.

The initiatives are part of a series of proposals from Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, to tackle the growing problem of youth violence in London.

His plans, which will be discussed tomorrow by the Metropolitan Police Authority, are in response to a spate of knife attacks throughout the country involving teenagers.

In Sidcup, southeast London, a 27-year-old man, thought to be the manager of the Horse and Groom public house, was stabbed in the stomach yesterday. It is believed that he was carrying the pub’s takings to the bank.

The attack was less than a mile from where Robert Knox, an actor in the latest Harry Potter film, was stabbed to death at the weekend. Karl Bishop, 21, from Sidcup has been charged with murder and was remanded yesterday in custody by magistrates in Bexley.

It also emerged yesterday that five men suffered stab and slash wounds in a fight at another pub in southeast London. Two of the men suffered serious injuries during the fight at The Bird in Hand, in Bromley, soon after 7pm on Monday.

The move to deploy community support officers in youth courts around the capital is an acknowledge-ment of the extent of the intimidation of witnesses by gangs.

The officers will be based in the courtroom as well as in corridors and witness waiting rooms.

Richard Sumray, who chaired a report into youth crime that made 53 recommendations to the Metropolitan Police, said: “The intent is to try to ensure that young people, victims and witnesses, feel safer in order that they will be more likely give evidence.

“It is to try to stop intimidation at any stage. Although this is less of a problem now than it used to be, the more we can do to make them feel safer the better.”

Sir Ian, the most senior policeman in Britain, said yesterday that his force was “bending every sinew” and using every available resource to stem the youth violence crisis.

Recent figures from the Met show that young people are committing an increasing proportion of serious crime in London and that, in the past 18 months, murders of and by youths have shown a significant increase on previous years.

Sir Ian said that it was not just an issue for the police – every parent had to confront their children over weapons in the same way that they did with drugs and drinking.

“Parents have a duty now to be asking their teenagers, ‘Are you involved in this knife carrying?’ . . . if they are, then they are a significant danger themselves. In the same way as you should be questioning your children about drugs and excessive alcohol, you should also be clear with them that carrying a knife outside the home is likely to lead to really serious trouble and tragedy.”

He said that the knives on the streets were more likely to be snatched from the kitchen drawer than bought or made.

Fourteen young people have been killed in London this year, compared with ten over the same period last year. In recent weeks police across the capital have been carrying out huge stop-and-search operations involving metal detecting arches and wands.

Operation Blunt 2, which has cost £1 million so far, will focus on areas where knife offenders live and meet.

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