Sobbing mum who lost THREE sons to London street violence says ‘I’ve got to hold on to what’s left’

A MUM who lost three of her sons to London's street violence sobbed today as she told how she had sent her other children to Nigeria in a desperate attempt to protect them.

Linda Burke-Monerville begged for justice after sons Trevor, 26, Joseph, 19 and David, 38, were killed in three separate attacks over two decades in the capital.

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David Bello-Monerville was stabbed to death in Barnet last month - the fifth person killed in just six days as the capital's knife crime epidemic continues to spiral out of control.

Six years earlier, his 19-year-old brother Joseph Burke-Monerville was shot in a case of mistaken identity - with no one ever convicted for the killing.

Eldest brother Trevor Monerville was 26 when he was stabbed to death in 1994. Again, no one has ever been convicted for his death.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain today, devastated parents John and Linda Burke-Monerville revealed how they had desperately tried to keep their family safe by sending their children overseas.

But just six months after Joseph had returned from Nigeria to London with his twin Jonathan, he was shot in the head and died.

Dad John said: "The second set of twins - I recall one day they came home saying they got in a fight at school and a young lad who was a spectator at the time of the fight offered one of them a knife and asked him to use it.

"They came home and told us that story. The next day we talked about it and decided to repeat what we did with the first set (by sending them to Nigeria)."

As wife Linda sobbed beside him, John told GMB: "I have to hold onto what is left of my family."

Mum Linda said: "We don't want them to be counted in the statistics of gun culture, we just want them to have a good education."

She added: "I just want justice.

"Justice has not been done for Joseph, justice has not been done for Trevor."

Three men have been charged with aggravated burglary in relation to David's death.

Meanwhile, a trial into the 2013 shooting death of Joseph collapsed, with a coroner ruling he had been unlawfully killed.

LONDON'S BLOODY STREETS

The grieving parents said they wouldn't wish what they had gone through on their worst enemy - and were horrified at the violence unfolding on Britain's streets.

The country has been battling a knife crime epidemic with fatal stabbings as deaths are at their highest level since the Second World War.

2018 was London’s bloodiest year in almost a decade as the murder toll reached 132.

And as of July 17, Scotland Yard had launched 78 murder investigations in London.

Shocking figures released earlier this year revealed knife crime in England and Wales soared to a record high, with 43,000 offences last year.

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In May, figures revealed five young people are attacked with a knife every day in London.

New PM Boris Johnson has launched a recruitment drive for 20,000 new police officers across the UK over the next three years.

The Government is also reviewing police stop and search powers to make it simpler for officers to tackle knife-carriers.

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