‘We don’t acknowledge he is dead-we say he is on holiday. That is the only way we can cope.’

Bereaved grandmother Julie Taylor talks to the Havering Daily about the day that destroyed her life.

On the 31 of January 2020 Julie Taylor and her family’s life was shattered. This was the day that her eldest grandson Liam lost his life to knife crime. Liam, known affectionately as ‘Fish’ was with friends at the Rose and Crown pub in Writtle. When he went to leave a gang of youths wearing masks and balaclavas jumped him and killed him. The incident was unprovoked, Liam was just a 19 year old out with friends when this horrific attack took his life. The hole in this family’s life in one that is not fillable. Their life is gone, it’s broken, it’s never going to be the same.

“The hardest part is sometimes when you wake up for a split second you forget and you don’t think about it. Then you remember and that dreadful realisation that you aren’t ever going to see him again kicks in. That’s our reality. That is our life now. We can’t accept he is gone.”

Fish, as Julie’s eldest grandson was the one she was the closest to. Her daughter and Fish’s mum Michelle will not talk about him as dead.

“We joke that he is on holiday, and wonder what he is doing and what he is drinking. That is the only way we can deal with it otherwise we can’t cope. We don’t talk about the day he died, it is just known as the ‘special day.’ There are many difficult days, dark days. Fish’s brother just about copes and his sister is really struggling.”

This is the reality of knife crime, what every family goes through for the rest of their life after losing a loved one.

Julie is one of the country’s biggest anti knife crime campaigners and a lady that is quite remarkable. She really has dedicated all her life to speaking out against the horrors of knife crime and to fund raise for the installation of bleed kits. These are life saving tools that really are a necessity in all public places. Julie is an amazing lady, a real warrior who fights so hard to campaign against knife crime. She works with Essex Police and the Met Police and recently meet the Home Secretary.

“By doing this it helps me remain strong and cope. Fighting and fundraising keeps me going. How do we stop this nightmare?”

“We need more stop and searches, we need more knife arches and most importantly, we need the law changed. We need deterrents, our laws need to be tougher.”

Julie is an incredible lady, she is strong to support the rest of her family and there to pick up all the pieces. Despite every day being a struggle, she fights on and does the best she can to campaign against the horrors that are plaguing our streets everyday.

She spends every day either campaigning against knife crime or fundraising to buy more bleed kits. She holds special walks in memory of Liam and candle lit vigils for all the youths who have lost their life to knife crime. Everyday is a challenge for her, but her strength and determination is second to none and what keeps her going. This is what life is like on the frontline of knife crime. So many people talk about this public health crisis on our streets, but unless you have lived it like Julie and the many, many other parents out there, you don’t really understand the impact it has on your life.

The sad reality of knife crime is that one act of destruction that took minutes, destroys an entire family’s life forever.