YOUNGSTERS from a troubled Leyton estate are to hand out fliers and posters around the borough as part of an anti-knife crime campaign.

Under the Government's It Doesn't Have to Happen initiative, they will be handing out fliers in fast shops and putting up posters in schools and community centres.

The boys, three of whom live on the Beaumont estate in Leyton and one of whom lives in Walthamstow, have been working with local resident and campaigner Ebony Vincent.

Ms Vincent, who also lives on the Beaumont estate, said: “We'll be going to assemblies at Lammas and George Mitchell Schools and we'll be working with the Leyton Orient Community Sports Partnership.

“We're going to places where young people have said their peers will see the fliers – the whole project is youth-led.”

The fliers have caused controversy because they are designed to look like knives but the boys believe they will work.

Abdullah Habib, 14, has had direct experience of losing someone to knife crime and wants to help make the borough safer.

He said: “Someone came up to me and said my friend was dead – I thought it was a joke. I said, 'you're lying' but everyone's faces just changed.

“We don't want people to go the wrong way.”

John Pluckridge, also 14, added: “We want to spread the message – we're trying to get all our friends involved.

“I think it's going to help – kids will see the fliers and have second thoughts about using a knife.”

Reheen Cottle, 14, said rivalries between different estates exacerbated the problem and that revenge often motivated violence.

He said: “The fight between Priory Court and Beaumont started because someone was stabbed. Someone's in jail now and more people are getting stabbed.”

All three agreed peer pressure was a factor and said those who have friends who carry knives are more likely to carry knives themselves.

Ashley Vincent, 20, who lives in Walthamstow, said: “I want to get knife crime stopped – I know someone who stabbed someone else and he's now inside.

“The guy who got hurt wants to hurt him now as well.”

The campaign emphasises the minimum four-year jail term for carrying a knife and aims to show how lives can be ruined before a weapon is even used.