CONTROVERSIAL far-right pressure group Britain First has been using murdered Halesowen schoolgirl Christina Edkins death to further its own agenda, the News can reveal.

The group, which pushes a radical anti-immigrant agenda, included a picture of Christina in a Facebook post under the headline "British victims of religious and racial murders - don't they deserve the same media recognition as Stephen Lawrence."

At no point in the investigation, trial or reviews into Christina's killing has there ever been a suggestion there was a racial or religious motive for her attack.

Stephen Lawrence was the black student whose murder in London in 1993 which led to the McPherson Report into racism in the police and is widely believed to be a touchstone case in racial violence in Britain.

Halesowen and Rowley Regis MP James Morris, who met the tragic Leasowes High School pupil's family after her killing, co-sponsored an anti-knife crime amendment to the Criminal Courts and Justice Bill last year.

He said: "The murder of Christina Edkins was a terrible tragedy which shocked the whole community.

"The circumstances surrounding her death are subject to a review by NHS England and raise issues of great importance about how people with mental health problems are assessed for risk and treated."

He added: "It is disgraceful that anyone should seek to exploit this tragedy in this way."

Britain First's mission statement is: "Britain First is committed to preserving our ancestral ethnic and cultural heritage, traditions, customs and values.

"We oppose the colonisation of our homeland through immigration and support the maintenance of the indigenous British people as the demographic majority within our own homeland.

"Britain First is committed to maintaining and strengthening Christianity as the foundation of our society and culture."

In November it was announced a new inquiry will be held into the fatal stabbing of Christina, who was killed on the number nine bus on the way to school in March 2013.

An earlier inquiry found that her death could have been prevented if her killer had received appropriate treatment for mental health problems.

Philip Simelane, from Walsall, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.