Just Who Do We Blame for the Knife Crime Epidemic?

For over five years, The Havering Daily has worked with bereaved families and anti-knife crime campaigners, standing with them outside some of the most well-known places in London — yet, despite their pleas, no one has stepped up to genuinely tackle this crisis.

The Havering Daily has been working with bereaved families and anti-knife crime campaigners for over five years. We have stood with campaigners outside key, well-known places such as City Hall, Number 10, Parliament Square and New Scotland Yard.

Campaigners have asked politely, they have shouted, they have begged — but despite their endless, infinite pleas for support, not one person has stepped up to genuinely tackle knife crime.

Mothers have held meetings that unite youths and local police in a bid to smooth the way forward. Peguy Kato, who runs All Champions Charity in memory of her son, has worked tirelessly across East London to improve engagement between youths and police. Courtney Barrett, from Binning Knives Saves Lives, has brought bereaved families together to campaign as one and to make their voices heard. He is an incredible campaigner who deserves recognition on the Honours List.

Havering’s Sue Hedges, from the Ricky Hayden Memorial, donates vital, life-saving bleed kits to as many organisations as she can — in a desperate bid to save lives. It was one of her kits that saved a young man’s life when he was stabbed on his way to college in Hornchurch several years ago.

These parents are broken. They are parents whose lives will never be the same again — yet they are frequently forgotten. The level of trauma they deal with is unprecedented. They have to watch the moment their child was murdered in court, and they are told not to shed a tear or show emotion so as not to upset the defendant. They receive no counselling, no support, no aftercare — only silence.

Then there are the police officers who work alongside these campaigners, doing all they can to help children engage in positive activities and prevent knife crime. But their options are limited — there simply aren’t enough officers.

Frontline officers are regularly removing machetes and zombie knives from our streets. But as we have said time and again, knife crime is not something we can police our way out of.

And when another horrific attack takes place, what happens to the culprit? Very little, campaigners argue. There is no deterrent.

Police officers, too, are traumatised — running to the aid of a child who has been stabbed repeatedly, hearing them call for their mother as they die in front of them. That trauma remains — for the family, and for that officer.

Just how many times across London and the country is this happening? Too many to count.

Children are now being stabbed in schools. Mothers send their children off to school, and they do not return. This is 2025 — and still, no one has addressed knife crime.

We also have to look at poverty. How many of these children grow up watching their parents struggle to put food on the table? How many become the sole breadwinners as teenagers?

On a Camden estate, a 14-year-old boy joined a county lines gang and became a drug runner. When he was arrested, his mother pleaded with officers, explaining that he was paying most of the household bills.

So, who do we point the finger at for allowing these horrors to continue? We are watching our youth die — yet, aside from the parents and anti-knife crime campaigners, very few are stepping up.

Throwing money at knife crime achieves nothing. This is a public health crisis that needs to be addressed from the grassroots — from schools to churches, to social care.

But will it happen? It hasn’t so far.

Spare a thought for these parents and campaigners — Sue, Peguy and Courtney — who continue their fight and deserve the maximum recognition for their endless determination to save lives.

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