‘We have spent so much time campaigning, begging those in authority to help us put a stop to knife crime. Nobody does.’

For years people have been knocking our police. We can not just rely on our officers to solve this, it needs to be the whole community taking a step forward to help.

“One minute he is here and then next minute he’s gone. I messed it all up by opening the front door to that nightmare that day”. These are the words of Ricky Hayden’s father Paul, whose son was brutally murdered outside their home in September 2016.

As the anniversary of Ricky’s death approaches for another year, Ricky’s family prepare themselves for that awful day in 2016 when their world was shattered.

“Our lives will never be the same, when Ricky died, part of all of us died with him. Our family is broken, everyone of us live with that heartache everyday of our lives,” tells us Sue Hedges, Ricky’s mother.

A knife crime conference was held yesterday to discuss how to tackle this public health crisis. On that same day, a hooded, masked, bike rider rode along the streets of the capital proudly brandishing his knife for all to see as of course this knife makes him tough right? On this occasion though, a very brave member of the public challenged him and called him out for being the coward he really is, quickly prompting the hooded masked idiot to ride off.

Another knife conference, another talking session where once again talk is cheap and most do not even await to see if anything will be done, as when it comes to knife crime-it is the unspeakable crime. Figures of how well those in authority are tackling it are normally presented or how many millions, or billions are thrown at it-yet here we are with London being highlighted as one of the world’s highest knife crime capitals.

Bereaved families have given up asking for justice, as nothing as seems to change.

“We have campaigned for so many years. We have met with mayors, people have sat and listened to us and yet here we still are,” continues Sue. “We have asked to work alongside all three emergency services to donate bleed kits so that that way we can stop more people losing their lives our on streets. We have asked to work alongside key organisations and yet nothing gets done.

“We have spent so much time campaigning, begging those in authority to help us put a stop to knife crime. Nobody does.

“This will be another meeting where it’s more talk, then another meeting and then another meeting to talk about the previous two meetings whilst knife crime keeps ongoing. What we need is not endless meetings, but action to start happening. We need to see the results on the streets.

“The solutions are not difficult. We have said this for years. We need to invest in our youth, we need to work alongside them and listen to them. We need to start funding programmes for them, encourage them off the streets and doing proactive activities, giving them hope.

“We need to show a zero tolerance to knife crime and not allow those carrying knives to be hero worshipped as they currently are.

“Tackling knife crime needs the whole community’s input. For years people have been knocking our police. We can not just rely on our officers to solve this, it needs to be the whole community taking a step forward to help.

“The impact this is also having on police officers is vast. We know that answering the endless calls to children having being stabbed on our streets is now resulting in many of them suffering with PTSD as a result.”

Sue and her family have campaigned since Ricky’s death in 2016. Now, Sue spends her days donating vital life saving Daniel Baird bleed kits to as many places as she can.

“If it saves as life, as we know these kits do, then it is vital to share these kits everywhere.”

It was one of Sue’s kits that saved the life of a teenager who was stabbed several years ago on his way to college. Staff at the Hornchurch college were able to use the kit to stem the bleeding and save the boy’s life.

“It is about saving as many lives as we can. We don’t want anyone else to go through the pain we have. It broke my family and will never be the same without Ricky.”

Every time another person loses their life, this family feels the pain. They understand what that family will be going through.

“People tell us they understand, but unless you have lost a loved one to knife crime, you cannot understand what it is like. What we feel everyday of our lives.”

Sue, Paul, and their children suffer everyday. Feelings of guilt, feelings of anger, everything rolled into one. Believe it or not, none of these bereaved families have ever been offered any counselling, nothing to support them.

“I don’t think anything will change. Unless they understand the pain a family feels losing a child to knife crime, which they don’t, then nothing will be done.”

RIP Ricky Hayden-a star shinning bright in the sky.

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