Teenagers are being sent to school wearing body armour as street violence escalates.

A firm that supplies stab-proof and bullet-proof vests to government agencies around the world has sold 60 jackets, costing £300-£425, to parents.

VestGuard UK said that it had received more than 100 inquiries from parents over the past few weeks. It used to get one or two such calls a year.

Adam Regis, 15, was stabbed to death while walking home in East London on March 17. Three days earlier, Kodjo Yenga, 16, was beaten to death in West London. Last month three teenagers were shot dead within a fortnight.

One mother has bought a vest for her 13-year-old daughter, who goes to a school where a pupil was shot dead and who has been targeted by a gang of older girls. She is now saving to buy a vest for her 11-year-old daughter.

The mother, who did not want to be named, said: “My daughter is being attacked by girls who are much older. I have never seen them with a knife but you never know when they are going to use a gun or knife until it is too late.

Shaun Ward, sales director of VestGuard UK, said: “We sell body armour to the Ministry of Defence, police, Foreign Office, embassy protection teams and specialised police units around the world, but in the past several weeks parents have started getting in touch.

Last month at Downing Street, senior police officers gave warning that the perpetrators and victims of gun crime were becoming younger.

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