21-05-2025
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."
