‘We Are Truly Disgusted At Sadiq Khan’s Knighthood-He Promised So Much For Us Bereaved Mothers And Delivered Nothing.’

Bereaved mothers and anti knife crime campaigners hit out London Mayor’s knighthood despite his failure to do anything about knife crime.

“It really is an insult for all parents whose children have died on the streets of London to read that this man has been given a knighthood. Knife crime is rampant across the London streets, children are being stabbed daily and he has done nothing but empty promises,” says Sue.

In 2016, Sue Hedges lost her son Ricky Hayden to knife crime. Ricky had his leg macheted in a frenzied attack where men had attempted to steal his brother’s moped. Such a brutal attack that eventually saw Ricky lose his life.

“I can’t believe how London is now. London has been my home all my life and when I look at it now, it saddens me to see how awful it has become. Streets are like ghettos with gangs across most boroughs. Gangs that rule certain parts and teenagers that fear going into other boroughs, scared to be stabbed up just because they come from another postcode. That’s how bad it is.

“We have children going to school with knives as they are scared. Children that are too frightened to wear nice clothes because they get robbed of their trainers and jackets. Parents are buying children stab proof clothing and live in fear when their children go out with their mates. There are children living on estates whose parents struggle to put food on the table and they end up becoming part of county lines systems just so they can support their mums. All this goes on now and it is never addressed.”

Sue spends her days on the street campaigning against knife crime and sees what is really going on.

“It’s frightening. The reality is frightening and the saddest part is no one cares. No one listens to these youths to learn about the world they are growing up in. We see endless empty projects being spun, new campaigns that mean nothing and of course nothing is done.

“Myself and other mothers met with the London Mayor in 2023 at City Hall. He came to an anti knife crime summit that we held. He sat down and chatted with us and we were actually hopeful of being able to work together. But we never heard from him again. More empty promises.

“We spend all out time out campaigning, donating vital life saving Daniel Baird bleed kits and working with communities to do what we can to stop these horrors. There is so much that could be done and so many people doing such great work, but as always- nobody does anything to support us. Empty talk-that’s what we get.

“i am grateful to our police officers who do a great job across London. We know that they are the ones first on scene dealing with knife crime victims and providing vital first aid. They do so much work too and that always goes unnoticed. There are so many amazing campaigners out there who are doing such a great job. I’d hate to think just how bad London would be without them.

“This knighthood has been a real disappointment for all of us who fight against knife crime, it has made us all so angry. No one except our police officers and campaigners has done anything against knife crime in London. We are truly disgusted at Sadiq Khan’s knighthood.

“We will carry on campaigning and hope that one day someone will actually step in and support us and really and genuinely want to tackle knife crime.”

Sue and April campaigning with Courtney ‘The knife man’ Barrett in London.

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