Shock tactics in new drive to stop youths carrying knives

SHOCKING images of horrific real-life knife wounds feature in a new Government advertising campaign launched today.

Pictures of exposed intestines, gangrenous limbs and a man with a knife and screwdriver sticking out of his chest will form part of the Home Office's £3 million "viral" internet campaign.

The images – taken from a medical photo library – will appear as slides being used to illustrate a fictional medical lecture.

A second advert shows a CCTV reconstruction of a stabbing on a shopping street.

The adverts will target young people through social networking websites like Bebo and on mobile phones.

The campaign, which ministers hope will shock young people out of carrying knives, has been devised by teenagers for teenagers. One of those who worked on the project, Khadijah Murchison, 18, from Bristol, said: "To share our experiences with each other and come up with ideas and adverts that will help reduce knife crime was great.

Home Office minister Vernon Coaker said: "I am in no doubt about the importance of tackling knife crime and this is even starker following recent tragic events."