Latest news with #KnifeCrimeAwarenessWeek
BBC News
22-05-2025
- BBC News
Government would support knife arches in schools
Installing metal detecting knife arches in schools and nightclubs would be supported by the government if they were "appropriate", the policing minister has Johnson, however, said those decisions should be "made locally".She was speaking during a visit to Coventry as part of Knife Crime Awareness West Midlands Police area recently saw a drop in the number of knife crime incidents - meaning it no longer has the highest rate of knife crime in the country. The minister discussed how the government would be working with the force to help meet a national target of halving knife crime over the next decade. Asked about installing knife arches in nightclubs and schools after several incidents involving young people in the region over recent years, she said: "I'm open to looking at anything that keeps the public safe."I think in schools, if schools if head teachers think that's appropriate then I would support them in that. "But I think it is very much down to what actions are most appropriate for the setting you're talking about." It was recently announced that the number of weapon surrender bins in the West Midlands is to are able to dispose of knives and weapons in the metal containers, with 1,705 weapons surrendered in the West Midlands Police area between January and March, which were later equates to 142 weapons deposited each week, or more than 20 per day. The recent haul included hundreds of flick knives, zombie knives, kitchen knives, knuckle dusters, machetes and even Supt Paul Joyce, who is responsible for policing across the whole of Coventry, told the BBC that part of the success was down to working with schoolchildren and tackling gang-related said: "We've got really good processes in place to identify gang members and proactively target them to ensure that they are not a risk to each other and to the wider community." Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
ITV News
21-05-2025
- ITV News
Southport attack survivor Leanne Lucas calls for 'blunt' knives to prevent more tragedies
ITV News' Jonathan Brown speaks to Leanne Lucas about her Let's Be Blunt campaign Words by Jonathan Brown, North of England reporter, and Eleanor Gregory, North of England producer. A woman who was stabbed five times while trying to save 25 young girls from a knife-wielding teenager in Southport says she fears another tragedy will happen if more is not done to tackle knife crime. Leanne Lucas, a yoga instructor whose Taylor Swift-themed dance class was targeted last July, has launched a new campaign called Let's Be Blunt that she hopes will save lives. The Southport attacker was armed with a kitchen knife he'd bought online. The attack claimed the lives of three girls, while Leanne, local businessman John Hayes, and eight children were treated in hospital for serious injuries. He was later jailed for a minimum of 52 years for the three murders, as well as the attempted murders of Leanne Lucas, businessman John Hayes, and eight other children who survived their injuries. Today, the 36-year-old's new initiative is calling for the widespread adoption of rounded-tip kitchen knives to reduce knife-related violence. She told ITV News that we need to "change the perception" of knives after she was critically injured herself. 'In my eyes I don't see change happening fast enough,' she said. 'Are we waiting for the next incident to appear on the TV? I'm not prepared to do that.' Let's Be Blunt campaign calls on households, retailers, manufacturers, and policymakers to switch from pointed kitchen knives to safer, rounded-tip alternatives. Leanne said: 'The kitchen utensil has the potential to become a weapon - I'm asking people to take an inventory of their kitchen... so that your kitchen becomes a safer place. It reduces the risk, reduces the impulsivity, and hopefully goes towards preventing knife crime in the future occurring.' Six-year-old Bebe King, Seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar were killed during the stabbing. Leanne told ITV News that she has launched her campaign not only for the three girls, but "for everyone" telling us "it's for them, the injured, and their families supporting them". She added: 'Every day the girls are in my thoughts, if we can do something to help this not happen to other children, that's what we're going to do.' Her life has changed since the incident, telling ITV News that she "had no purpose" and "didn't know what to do" but has now found a passion to give her and other people hope. The latest ONS homicide statistics showed there were 262 murders involving a knife or sharp instrument in England and Wales in the year to March 2024, with 17 of the victims being children under the age of 16. Kitchen knives were used in 44% of those incidents. Taking her campaign to parliament, Leanne will give a speech at a special reception in the presence of Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. The event is part of Knife Crime Awareness Week and has been organised by the Ben Kinsella Trust, a charity set up in memory of 16-year-old Ben Kinsella, who was stabbed to death in London in 2008. Crime and Policing Minister, Dame Diana Johnson, has said that "nothing is off the table when it comes to getting lethal blades off our streets and keeping people safe" and that the government is exploring options to make changes by meeting with retailers and manufacturers. For more information on the Let's Be Blunt campaign visit
Daily Mirror
21-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Leanne Lucas launches knife campaign to remove sharp tip that almost killed her
Leanne Lucas helped to save children from the attack by shielding them with her own body and rushing them from the building to safety The Southport teacher who was stabbed as she bravely shielded children from the horrific knife attack has launched a campaign to remove the sharp tip from knives. Leanne Lucas, 36, was leading the Taylor Swift dance class last July when deranged teenager Axel Rudakubana burst in and began stabbing little girls with a kitchen knife. Leanne 'almost died' after she was stabbed in the neck, back and arms while trying to save children from his attack. As she has launched her new campaign, Let's Be Blunt, Leanne revealed she is still so traumatised she hasn't used a knife since, and has to live with her parents. Speaking to the Times she said: "Every time I go somewhere, I think: how can I help people if something bad happens? Where's the fire escape? Have I got my phone in my hands so I can call the police? I'm constantly thinking, 'At any moment your life can change. "I didn't realise how afraid I felt in my own kitchen; I haven't cooked since the summer. I think part of that reason is subconsciously I've got a fear. "I live with my parents at the age of 36 because that's where I feel safe. I'm hypervigilant and always looking for danger. It crosses my mind every minute of the day. It hadn't happened here in Southport before, so that's why I'm trying to get this message out: you don't know the next place it's going to happen." Her Let's Be Blunt campaign, is calling for the sharp point on kitchen and domestic knives to be removed, adding that knife crime in the UK is 'out of control'. Leanne was inspired to launch the campaign after watching Idris Elba's speak about his knife crime documentary in January, where he also called for blunt tip kitchen knives. She now wants to see the change adopted and backed by households, manufacturers, retailers and policymakers. Leanne's campaign has been launched to coincides with Knife Crime Awareness Week, which began on Monday and tonight (Weds) she will attend a parliamentary reception. Leanne added: There is this anger in me: why do I have to say this? Why is it up to survivors to make a difference?" she explained. "Why not the people making the rules [and] enforcing the law? It's almost like if I don't speak, who is going to make the change fast enough?" Since the attack Leanne revealed she has qualified as a counsellor, but as she fought back tears, added that she doesn't know if she can go back to teaching. "I feel like I can't be a teacher any more just that level of responsibility ... It makes me really sad and I try not to think about it," she said. "Maybe I can work with children in a different capacity. I never would've thought I'd have so much interest in this area of advocacy and campaigning and, you know, trying to make that difference. "I may be scared walking down the road, but I'm not scared of saying exactly what I think needs to happen next.
ITV News
21-05-2025
- ITV News
Southport survivor Leanne Lucas launches 'Let's be Blunt' campaign for ban on pointed knives
Leanne Lucas is calling for a ban on pointed knives and says 'we must continue to talk about knife crime' A yoga teacher who survived the Southport attack says "evil will not win", as she launches her campaign for safer knives. Leanne Lucas managed to get several children to safety in the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July 2024, despite being stabbed several times. Leanne has partnered with the Ben Kinsella Trust for the 'Let's be Blunt' campaign, calling for people to swap to blunted knives, instead of ones with pointed tips. The teacher is heading to Westminster to call on MPs to endorse the campaign, saying the damage and "misery she saw caused by knives must never be repeated". Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain, Leanne said she the horrific events in Southport "changed her life forever". Leanne was critically injured in the attack on 29 July 2024, and three children - Alice da Silva Aguiar, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Bebe King - were killed. She said she hasn't been able to use a kitchen knife since the attack. Leanne said: "I think being introduced to the blunt tip knives has been a step forward for me in my journey, as well as being able to speak about it publicly to help everybody else. "There has to be something that comes out of this, there has to be change." Patrick Green, from the Ben Kinsella Trust, said: "With blunted knives we're removing the opportunity, the impulsivity. "Blunted knives would make things safer for everyone, and it's something the public can adopt right now. "We don't need to wait for legislation, I expect a lot of people don't know that you can actually buy these knives now." The 'Let's be Blunt' campaign is being unveiled at a Knife Crime Awareness Week parliamentary reception on Wednesday, 21 May, where Leanne will speak alongside the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson. Knife Crime Awareness Week, which runs from 19–25 May, is organised by the Ben Kinsella Trust, a knife crime prevention charity. Leanne told Good Morning Britain: "We can't change what happened. "But if we can do anything, so people don't feel the way I feel, the way the families feel, then we will continue to talk about this. "We need to talk about knife crime and how we can keep people safe. "If everyone plays a tiny part in tackling this, we can make a massive change."
Metro
21-05-2025
- Metro
Southport stabbings survivor reveals she hasn't used a kitchen knife since
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video A yoga instructor who survived the Southport stabbings has revealed she has not used a kitchen knife since the attack. Leanne Lucas said she was left so 'afraid in my own kitchen' by the ordeal of having to fight off Axel Rudakubana that she has not cooked since the summer. As the anniversary of the atrocity approaches, she is calling for a ban on pointed kitchen knives to reduce the risk of them ever being used as a weapon. Rudakubana was jailed for a minimum of 52 years in January for the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at the Taylor Swift-themed workshop in the town on July 29 last year. The teenager also tried to kill eight other children, as well as class instructor Ms Lucas and businessman John Hayes. 'I live with my parents at the age of 36 because that's where I feel safe,' Ms Lucas told The Times. 'I'm hypervigilant and always looking for danger. It crosses my mind every minute of the day. It hadn't happened here in Southport before, so that's why I'm trying to get this message out: you don't know the next place it's going to happen.' In the aftermath of the attack, Ms Lucas said she had read articles quoting actor Idris Elba and celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall discussing the potential benefits of blunt-tipped knives. She said it was the sharp tip of the knife which nearly killed her, telling the BBC: 'When this idea about the blunt-tip knives came in I just thought 'this is a no-brainer, I don't understand why our kitchen isn't safer in the first place'.' Ms Lucas is launching her campaign, Let's Be Blunt, during Knife Crime Awareness Week to encourage the use of rounded knives. 'You normally hear of the zombie knives, machetes, things like that,' she told Sky News. 'They sound dangerous but really, when you look at the figures, the highest figure is the domestic kitchen knife, which we have all got in our kitchen, which we use daily. 'Obviously, people can hurt people in many ways. It's about reducing that opportunity to cause life-damaging, life-threatening injuries that can take people's lives.' There were around 50,000 offences involving a sharp instrument in the year ending March 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). More Trending A sharp instrument was the most common method of homicide in England and Wales during the same period, accounting for 262 deaths. Kitchen knives were used in more than 100 of them. 'We need to all get on board as a member of the general public and say we're not OK with the increase in knife crime, and we want to play a tiny part towards preventing future knife crime, Ms Lucas told the BBC. 'I can't now 'unsee' what's in the kitchen, so I've got to do something about that. And I think that's the movement we're trying to create.'' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Mum tried smuggling MDMA into Creamfields hidden in Kinder Eggs inside her body MORE: Young dad killed in 'targeted attack' in Bury named as Brandon Porter Kershaw MORE: British 'drug mule' complains about food in Sri Lankan prison being too spicy
