‘We Need To See Harsher Sentences For Those Carrying Knives’-Bereaved Mum Slams Justice System.

In 2016 Ricky Hayden lost his life to a knife. Ricky was sleeping when thieves armed with knives and a machete came to steal a moped. Ricky fought the attackers and received a machete wound to the thigh that ultimately cost him his life.

Mum Sue Hedges and the Hayden family did not get the justice they deserved and now campaign daily against knife crime.

Sue told the Havering Daily: “We were told that if you carry a knife, you get five years, but that is not the case. We are seeing teenagers carrying knives getting a slap on the wrist and the week after they are back on the street carrying a knife.”

Indeed it was a month ago that the Town Centre team in Romford arrested a 16 year old for carrying a Samurai sword and despite being caught and arrested by the police, the youth was back out on the streets of Romford the week after carrying a knife.

“Carrying a knife should be a sentence and not a caution. We need harsher sentences to stop this knife crime epidemic. We are seeing such weak sentences for knife crime and rape, it’s dreadful. The law needs to be started all over again.I don’t believe in our current justice system, I speak from experience as it let myself and my family down.

“The police did a fantastic job, they had endless paperwork for our case and I know how hard they worked. The judge also supported us in his summing up, it was the jury and the whole system that let us down and is not fit for purpose.”

Sue now spends her days donating Daniel Baird bleed kits from the Ricky Hayden Memorial across the community which are vital life saving tools.

“It should automatically be carrying a knife and get five, simple. We know that if you carry a knife there is a 95% chance that it will be used either against someone or used against you.

“Knife crime is a very difficult problem to tackle, but it isn’t being tackled by the government or mayor. Money is handed out but the right work is not being done. The police do a fantastic job and ultimately are left to deal with this problem, but it is not something that can be solved by just the police. It needs to be a wider community approach and we need a better justice system.”

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