TORY leader David Cameron has backed the Daily Echo's knife campaign by calling for tougher penalties in relation to violent crime.

He was speaking in Hampshire on the eve of the sentencing of those responsible for the killing of Southampton teenager Lewis Singleton.

Lewis, 18, was stabbed to death after suffering the knife wounds as he walked along Obelisk Road in Woolston in the early hours of March 31 last year.

Rikki Johnson, 19, of Honeysuckle Road, Bassett, was convicted of murder and his co-defendant Sercan Calik, 19, of Burgess Road, Bassett, was found guilty of the manslaughter of Lewis.

Harvell Mason, 17, of Saltmead, St Denys, was acquitted of both murder and manslaughter but found guilty of violent disorder. They were due to be sentenced today at Winchester Crown Court.

Mr Cameron said: "You need to have a tough minimum penalty that we have been pushing on knife crime.

"You have got to police the streets properly. Scrap those restrictions on stop and search so the police can get out there and find the guns and knives."

Mr Cameron said they also had to ask why so many young people were carrying knives on the streets.

He said: "We have got to do more to strengthen families. In the end the best anti-crime policy is a pro-family policy and a pro-discipline in school policy.

"That is what you would see from a Conservative government. You have got to have both parts. As well as being tough on the actual crime taking place we have got to look at the underlying causes and the problems where they come from.

Mr Cameron said that they needed to educate young people about the risks and make parents more accountable.