Croydon South MP Richard Ottaway has praised an anti-gun and knife crime exhibition by a Croydon artist.

Valerie Beddington-Hooker taught art at Archbishop Tenison's CoE School for 20 years and is showing her sequence of 15 paintings entitled 'Disarming Innocence' until Thursday at the House of Lords.

The paintings are loosely based on the Stations of the Cross and depict a range of crime scenes in the form of a Medieval Altar piece.

The scenes include murder, riots, black-on-black gun crime and other scenarios set against a range of backdrops including Reeves Corner and the old Croydon General Hospital.

Ms Beddington-Hooker of Old Coulsdon said she hoped the images will raise awareness of violent crime among young people.

She is lobbying the Government to make the exhibition available to schools UK-wide as part of the national curriculum.

Mr Ottaway said: "I am impressed by Valerie's paintings and I hope many young people will have the opportunity to see them and reflect on the powerful messages."