Three boys have been arrested after children were mugged at knifepoint in a spate of robberies near primary schools.

West Hampstead neighbourhood police officers arrested three boys on suspicion of robbery, possession of an offensive weapon and conspiracy to rob on January 26.

All three have been released on bail pending further enquiries, said the Metropolitan Police's Neighbourhood Chief Superintendent Jack Rowlands.

A series of muggings involving school children have been reported in West Hampstead in recent weeks.

Individual incidents have not yet been confirmed by Scotland Yard. 

Kilburn police tweeted on X on January 22 of an incident of school children being "victims of crime" in West Hampstead on Friday January 20.

A number of X users replied to the thread from @MPSKilburnCam about incidents they had either witnessed or heard about.

@Ian_Coh spoke of two incidents on Cannon Hill on January 22.

He said: "There was two incidents of mugging around 5.30 pm. One of them involved, a knife, a group of five or six guys attacked a school child coming home, and then another youngster was mugged with the use of a knife.

"Both have been reported."

@WH_guy also spoke of an incident on January 22.

He added: "On Monday there were four incidents which I know of - one by Nautilus fish shop on Fortune Green Road, two at the BAM estate and another on the corner of Sumatra and Sandwell Roads.

"All between 4pm and 5pm and involved schoolchildren getting mugged."

On January 26 @WH_guy told the Ham&High there had been another incident at 4pm on the corner of Kingdon Road and Dennington Park Road .

A 16 year-old boy was allegedly attacked by two boys, one of whom had a knife.

Sup Jack Rowlands, who looks after Neighbourhood Policing in Camden, said it was "taking time" to gather all the details.

"Following concerning reports relating to school children being robbed in West Hampstead officers from the local Safer neighbourhood are deployed to the area," he said.

"I know these incidents would have caused a lot of concern from parents, school teachers and children.

"I want to reassure the public that as soon as the incidents happened my teams proactively put a plan in place to make arrests.

"Safer Schools Officers have also been providing support to pupils and schools around reassurance and prevention work.

"We will continue to respond accordingly to these incidents."