Teesside knife crime campaigner calls for urgent priority
It's after the mass stabbing at Southport
A Teesside knife crime campaigner is calling on the government to make the issue an urgent priority.
It is after a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport earlier this week, where three little girls were killed and eight other children and two adults remain in hospital.
Six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice DaSilva Aguiar all died.
A 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is in custody, accused of murder and attempted murder.
Theresa Cave's son, 17 year-old Chris, was stabbed to death in 2003 in Redcar.
She said: "We're just shouting and shouting and shouting. What annoys me is how Keir Starmer is saying he's going to half knife crime within 10 years. 10 years in itself is a crime to have to wait 10 years just to have half it. Knife crime should have been made a priority and things needed to be put in place before now.
"If this doesn't make it a priority well nothing every will because this is just a heartache for the whole country and it's making people angry. And until the government sits down and listens to us and puts something in place, then it's going to continue, it's going to get worse and then the blood will be on their hands.
"It's about backing the promises up and get the stop and search in play, and get it used more regularly. This is a priority and also it's not just taking knives off kids, it's taking them in and making them face the consequences. There should be more arrests for kids carrying knives. I don't care how old they are now because this has just proved how bad it's got.
"I think it's time that the government got together with grassroot organisations like us right across the country, because them picking and choosing between themselves isn't enough. They need to know from us, who work in the thick of it, exactly what's needed because every town and city in this country needs something different. It's not one fix for all. Everyone needs to be getting into this and getting together.
"My door's always open to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and the government. It always has been and I don't care who's in power, because when it comes to knife crime, it shouldn't be a political thing. It should be people who care who want to do something about it to stop it. It's not about politics knife crime. It's about kids getting murdered and families being left devastated."