futures will forever be
blighted by their crimes.
It’s no wonder, then, that
in his new series, Ross Kemp
Living With..., actor-turned-
investigative journalist
Ross Kemp is examining
knife crime, describing the
increase as an ‘epidemic’.
‘The headlines are becoming
all too familiar, but no less
shocking,’ says Kemp, 55.
He’s right. Charlotte
Huggins was stabbed to death
in Camberwell, south-east
London, in the early hours of
New Year’s Day. It is believed
that the death of the 33-year-
old was the capital’s first
homicide of 2019.
In the same month, security
guard Tudor Simionov was
also killed when he tried
to prevent gate-crashers
storming a private party in
central London. Lee Pomeroy
was stabbed nine times on
a train from Guildford to
London and 14-year-old
Jaden Moodie was knocked
off a moped and attacked with
a knife in Leyton, east London.
More recently, Kelly-Mary
Fauvrelle was eight months
pregnant when she was fatally
stabbed in June. Although the
26-year-old died at the scene
in Croydon, Greater London,
paramedics managed to
deliver her baby son, Riley.
Tragically, he also passed
away just days later.
Two lives cut short, one
before it had even begun.
Kemp speaks to four
anonymous gang members, all
of whom carry knives. They’re
all under 21 – and began
carrying their weapons when
they were just 13. Kemp asks
them why they do this.
‘Some people don’t have
a choice,’ answers one. ‘That
young person has to carry
a knife to protect themselves
from other people trying to
come at them.’
‘A lot of it is over drugs,
but then nowadays it’s just
silly,’ another chimes in.
‘People have a problem
with you over nothing.’
They also agree that social
media – Snapchat, Instagram- is part of the problem.
‘Certain people say things
and it just escalates situations,’
one explains. ‘Everyone thinks
it’s the fashion to be carrying
knives.’ When Kemp points
out that not every young
person carries a knife, the
gang members describe
those people as ‘civilians’.
‘Civilians?’ asks Kemp.
‘So this is a war?’
‘Yes,’ they agree
immediately. ‘People are
dying, so it’s a war, isn’t it?’
Tragic words from such
young voices.
These young men all
had one thing in common.
They didn’t finish full-time
education. Could that be
a factor? They think so.
‘It’s definitely one of the
impacts that messed up my
life, yeah, definitely,’ one says.
‘As soon as you get kicked
out, you go to a referral centre.
You’re surrounded by bad kids,
you’re labelled a bad kid and
you think you’re a bad kid,’
another explains.
So what exactly is being
done to tackle this crisis?
In 2015, police introduced
Operation Sceptre, where
knife amnesty bins were put
out so people could dispose of
their weapons anonymously.
The Home Office also
declared it was focusing on
early intervention, putting
more than £200m into
projects to prevent people
getting involved in violent
crimes. They stated they
were consulting on a new
approach to give police
greater powers and funding.
Yet, with the number of
police officers being reduced
by 20,000 over the past
decade, individuals are taking
it into their own hands to do
what they can.
Our 2018 best Hero, Yvonne
Lawson, set up the Godwin
Lawson Foundation in
memory of her son, who was
fatally stabbed in 2010. Not
only does the foundation go
into schools to raise awareness
of the impact of knife crime
and offer peer-to-peer
mentoring services, it also
hands out stickers to houses
and commercial premises to
put in their windows to show
they’re a safe zone, where
people can seek refuge if
they feel they are in danger.
Kemp also spoke to people
trying to do their bit. Hanif
Mohammed – who killed
someone with a knife at the
age of 24 and spent 10 years
in prison – is assistant directorat In2change, which runs
workshops with young people
in disadvantaged areas, as well
as prisoners and ex-offenders.
Faron Paul started an
informal knife amnesty after
claiming to have been stabbed
nine times, on two occasions.
He receives messages via
social media to retrieve knives.
But despite their best
efforts, knife crime is still rife.
So what else can be done? And
will we find the answer before
more lives are destroyed?● Ross Kemp Living With
Knife Crime is on Thursday
8 August, ITV, 7.30pm.WORDS:^ SARAHWHITELEY^PICTURES:^ GETTY,^ SILVERSTAR^PRODUCTIONS*OFFICE^FORNATIONAL^STATISTICS^(ONS),^ ONS.GOV.UKRoss Kemp
grapples
with the
knife crime
crisisRoss
with knife
amnesty
campaigner
FaronA monumental
memorial
The thought-
provoking
Knife AngelThe Knife Angel, made
of 100,000 weapons, is
a striking tribute to the
victims of knife crime –
and an acknowledgement
of the serious issue that
faces our society.
Standing at 26ft and
taking two years to build,
creator Alfie Bradley
used knives that police
donated, which had
actually been used
in violent crimes, and
those given by the
British Ironwork Centre
in Shropshire, which
initiated amnesty
programme ‘Save A Life,
Surrender Your Knife’.