Panorama: Your child's been stabbed BBC One, Sunday, 17 October 2004 at 22:15 BST

Rageh Omaar, who covered the war in Iraq from Baghdad, reports from the UK for the first time in seven years to investigate the rising tide of knife crime amongst teenagers.

During the course of his investigation, Rageh uncovers disturbing evidence of the scale and extent of the problem, evidence which reveals that the number of youngsters carrying -and using - knives has been massively underreported in official crime figures.

Panorama hears testimony from the children who have been stabbed, their parents and the kids for whom knives are simply a part of every day life.

Some of them are girls. Some of them are as young as twelve. And he hears from parents who have taken the heart stopping phone call - 'Your child has been stabbed.'

Rageh's investigation also shatters the myth that knife crime is an inner city phenomenon.

Paul and Jayne Walmsley from Lincolnshire have lived through every parent's worse nightmare.

Their 14 year old son Luke was stabbed to death in school. His 16 year old killer had a record of violence towards other children, but they were never told.

The programme uncovers an almost identical case in neighbouring Suffolk which was never publicised. Both sets of parents demand to know why this was hidden from them and the public.

The shocking answer comes from the testimony of a head teacher with almost 30 years experience who insisted on anonymity.

Production team:
Reporter: Rageh Omaar
Producer: Murdoch Rodgers
Editor: Mike Robinson
Deputy Editors: Andrew Bell, Frank Simmonds