The Government launched a £3 million national advertising campaign today to warn young people about the effects of knife crime, amid growing fears that the issue is getting out of control.

The move came as the Metropolitan Police unveiled a haul of weapons recovered during the first two weeks of a blitz on knife crime, and said that parents were key to tackling the problem.

Fourteen teenagers have died violently so far this year. Lyle Tulloch, 15, Jimmy Mizen, 16, and Rob Knox, 18, were all killed in the last month.

Senior police officers said yesterday that the huge rise in the number of teenagers being killed on the streets of London was the biggest threat facing the capital after terrorism.

The Home Office’s hard-hitting adverts, which will be run on radio, websites and mobile phones, were developed and written by young people who have themselves been affected by knife crime.

One shows a man with a Swiss army knife and a screwdriver sticking out of his chest.

Others show exposed intestines which have emerged from a knife wound, a leg which has become gangrenous after a knife attack and deep wounds to the bone.

The real images from a medical photo library appear as slides being used to illustrate a fictional medical lecture - accompanied by a script which was overseen by a trauma surgeon.

The two-minute scene is accompanied by a second viral advert depicting “CCTV” footage - performed by actors - of a knife stabbing on a shopping street.

Both sequences will be distributed through social networking websites such as Bebo and on mobile phones.

A series of ads aimed at mothers, encouraging them to talk about the issue with their children, will run simultaneously.

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

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