Sending ex-gang members on to the streets to deter youngsters from crime will not work, according to a reformed criminal.

The idea is part of a £60 million scheme to cut youth crime announced by the Home Office.

It also includes increasing police patrols at school closing time and using laws to keep troublemakers and vulnerable young people off the streets at night.

But Bobby Cummines, a former gang member who now runs the Snodland-based charity Unlock for criminals who want to rebuild their lives, says the plan is not the answer.

Cummines regularly goes into schools to talk to youngsters about the dangers of getting involved in crime - and he's worked with young people in some of London's most notorious inner-city estates.

He is not convinced ex gang members and kids who aspire to be part of a gang are a good mixture.

"To say we're going to have ex-gang members policing our kids... you've got to be very careful with that . Firstly, you've got to make sure they're rehabilitated themselves and secondly, if it's not done right, it could turn into a way of grooming these kids into crime."

He described it as “setting the bullies on to the bullies” and added that there is no sense in sending more police to the school gates.

"When we go onto the estates there are drugs and drink - a lot of it's fuelled by drink.

“It's not when they're leaving school, it's after they've had their dinner and they're out with their mates around 7 or 8pm - that's when it gets out of hand."

Mr Cummines served 13 years in jail for his part in an armed robbery when he was a youth.

He believes that education is the key to keeping young people out of crime and also blames many problems on family breakdown.

He said: “You've not only got to educate the kids but educate the parents. When you go into the inner city estates you can get a kid off the drugs and sort him out and then go in the house and dad's taking it or mum's taking it.

"It's not just about educating children away form crime but about educating parents into being good parents and learning good citizenship skills."

Cummines does lots of his work with young people in Kent as well as London, and warns the violence in the Capital which so often dominates the headlines is working its way into the Garden of England.

"The drug industry's flooded out of London and now you've got people in Kent fighting for turf. If you've got something in London you'll have it Kent six months later. And there are places in Kent which are very much like parts of London - where people are too scared to come out of their homes after nine o 'clock at night - and that can't be right."