The Mayor of London has blamed middle-class recreational drug use for the spate of violent killings in the capital this year.

Speaking on LBC radio earlier today Mr Khan said: “There is a definite link, which has been shown to me by the police, of drugs and criminal gangs and knife crime and crime going up.

“There are some Londoners who think it is a victimless crime, taking cocaine at middle-class parties.

“We need to make sure Londoners realise there is no such thing as a victimless crime.”

But this isn’t the first time that recreational drug use has been blamed for the rise in violent crime in London.

In May this year frontline organisations fighting violent crime highlighted the role of drugs in contributing to the surge in violence in the capital.

During a police and crime committee meeting in May Detective Chief Superintendent Kevin Southworth, head of Trident and area crime command for the Metropolitan Police, said: “We need a vital change in attitudes towards drugs because it is not the people taking drugs that are the ones suffering from drug production.”

Mr Southworth said: “White middle-class people do not realise that their drug dealer might be a killer in waiting.”

During the meeting there was a strong focus on how people dealing drugs across “county lines” was increasing the drug trade in London.

The “county lines” phenomenon involves criminal gangs setting up drug dealing operations in places outside their usual operating area.

It identified “county lines” as a driver of violence because of turf wars between drug gang rivals.

Mr Rowlands said that children are often used as drug mules and are bribed to do things that they don’t want to do when they get involved with drug dealing gangs.

Reiterating Mr Rowlands words on LBC today Mr Khan added: “Some of the young people being knifed on our streets in London, some of the young people losing their lives is because they are involved in criminal gangs who are lower down the food chain in relation to drugs.

“We have got to make sure we take action among those young people who are involved in criminal gangs as well as those who are buying them at middle-class parties.”