The founder of a Twitter account about the latest stabbings and shootings from across the capital has insisted he wants to give Londoners "factual" information about crime.
Amid the current knife and gun crime wave in London, London 999 Feed has soared in popularity with its regular tweets about the latest violent incidents.
The account, which is run by two people, has been through a busy patch recently, with the number of murders in London in 2018 passing the 100 mark this month.
It is the earliest it has reached the figure in 10 years.
Many of the deaths have involved youths, sparking fears that gang related violence is on the up.
Over the weekend a 19-year-old was killed in a drive-by-shooting in a residential street in Walthamstow, while hours earlier a 20-year-old DJ was stabbed to death at a party in Stamford Hill.
The man who manages the account, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Standard that he is simply trying to keep the public informed.
He said: “We want it to be factual. We are not doing what we are doing to create unnecessary alarm or panic.
“We are doing it to create public awareness, in particular at the moment gang related knife crime.
“People want to know what is going on in London. More and more this will be a stabbing or shooting.
“There are a lot more of these incidents than anything else, and we are getting more and more tip-offs. We went through a period in the summer where we were tweeting one or two stabbings a day.
“Of course this generates interest from followers but it doesn’t give us any pleasure.
“When writing tweets we do not start them with ‘London bloodbath’ or ‘murder Britain’ which could be perceived by some as scare mongering or exaggerating.”
The man, who works as a senior sales manager at a property development company, described running the account as “big commitment” but added that the praise he gets from followers makes it worth it.
He said: “The motivation is to break news to the public in and around London.
“We are interested in crime, in breaking news, trying to get the story out first.
“It is just a personal interest. Sometimes I think I am in the wrong job and should be a crime reporter.”
He added that he hopes the account, which was set up in 2015, may eventually evolve into a website, with the goal of eventually running it for profit.
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