‘My son’s killer celebrated killing my son on social media whilst in jail.’

Two bereaved mothers share their pain and sadness at the ongoing horrors of knife crime.

The light went out of Peggy’s life when her son Champion Ghanda, aged just 17 years old was stabbed to death on the streets of Newham. The Harold Hill mum has now dedicated her life to supporting youths in a desperate bid to stop knife crime.

On Friday ( 7 October) Peggy joined forces with Sue Hedges from Hornchurch, whose family was also brutally torn apart by knife crime when her son Ricky Hayden was murdered in Marks Gate in 2016. The two mums sat together and shared their endless sadness at watching other families have to endure what they have, as the number of fatal stabbings continue.

“Our justice system is appalling, there is no deterrent for stabbings or carrying a knife,” Sue tells us. “The police do so much hard work to bring the criminal to justice and yet once they are arrested and taken to court, the jury lets us down. I saw the incredible amount of work involved by the police, the paper work those officers had to do was literally stacked to the ceiling. Yet from there, the system is failed, there is no deterrent whatsoever.”

The two bereaved mothers campaign endlessly to have their voices heard in the hope that someone will actually listen to them and start the process of reducing knife crime.

“Our youths are scared, they are terrified to go in an area where they literally fear that someone will stab them.It is the postcode war, if they go in a different postcode and someone there does not like someone they know, well that’s all it takes. They are either too scared to go out much, or land up carrying a knife themselves,” continues Peggy.

“Nobody wants to hear from us mothers and campaigners, we have been outside City Hall, outside Number 10 and not one person will come out and meet us and listen to our pleas. So much work needs to be done to stop knife crime and all people seem to do is throw money here and there in the hope that it stops, and it doesn’t,” says Sue.

The mums have been campaigning for years but are now tired, so very very tired of saying the same things and no one listens to them.

“I am very tired and sad, I have been fighting knife crime for years and here we still are. I don’t think I can do it much longer,” says Peggy.

“I urge people to all unite and come together now and stop these horrors from taking place on our streets. Don’t let knife crime come knocking on your door. If it does, then it is too late. My son’s killer was just 16 years old and he celebrated killing my son on social media whilst in jail, that’s how bad it really is.”

Sue not only campaigns against knife crime but also donates Daniel Baird life saving bleed kits as part of the Ricky Hayden Memorial. Whilst Peggy raises money to fund an orphanage in Congo to help many homeless children in memory of her son Champion, as she tells us, every child is a champion and deserves the best future possible.

Both of these ladies are two heroes who have experienced incredible sadness yet continue to fight to save the life of our youths.

We must all unite now as a community and stop these horrors from continuing on our streets.

Always remembering:

Ricky Hayden and Champion Ghanda.