EastEnders star Brooke Kinsella has issued a plea for political leaders to “break their silence” on the knife crime epidemic as Britain goes to the polls.
The campaigner, whose brother Ben was brutally stabbed to death as he celebrated completing his GCSEs 16 years ago, said she was alarmed by the lack of attention given to the crisis in the election debate.
The 40-year-old has called for leaders to urgently prioritise saving young lives this general election amid rising numbers of attacks.
She is joined by other grieving families who said there has been “no outcry” despite countless fatalities – with some fearing knife crime is only paid lip service when another tragedy hits the headlines.
Have you been affected by knife crime? Email amy-clare.martin@independent.co.uk
The actress told The Independent: “I’m alarmed by the lack of attention given to the rising tide of knife crime during this election campaign. Since my brother Ben’s tragic murder in 2008, over 1,000 teenagers have lost their lives, and the numbers keep climbing – an 81 per cent increase in knife crime in the last decade.
“All evidence suggests this will worsen. Our trust’s recent survey revealed a worrying trend: one in four young people believe carrying a knife offers protection.
“Loopholes in legislation and lax online age verification make it shockingly easy to acquire dangerous knives. Unsanctioned violent content on social media further exposes young minds to knife crime. The age of knife carriers is dropping too.
“With a heavy heart, I fear more families will suffer our loss unless this issue is tackled urgently. Knife crime is a silent epidemic, and it’s time for political leaders to break the silence during this campaign.”
Her intervention comes after a string of horrifying recent attacks, including the killing of 14-year-old schoolboy Daniel Anjorin in a sword rampage in April as he walked to school in Hainault, east London, and the stabbing of schoolgirl Elianne Andam, 15, at a bus stop in Croydon last year.
Patrick Green, CEO of the charity Ms Kinsella co-founded in her brother’s name, the Ben Kinsella Trust, said the shocking case this week of two 12-year-olds becoming Britain’s youngest killers since the murder of James Bulger highlights the urgent crisis.
One of the knife-obsessed pair, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had posed on social media with a 17-inch long machete hours before they used it to murder 19-year-old Shawn Seesahai in a Wolverhampton Park.
“This case really highlights everything that’s wrong – two 12-year-olds with a machete,” he added. “How does that happen? Surely that says an awful lot about where we are.
“There’s a litany of failures in relation to knife crime and it’s frustrating for me that it’s not part of the debate and the focus is not on the safety of children.
“Knife crime hasn’t been dominant in terms of the election debate so far. Sadly I think knife crime only tends to hit the news when something tragic happens.
“This is a really big issue that is not getting the attention it deserves during the election campaign.”
Rachel Duncan’s nephew James Bascoe-Smith was left with life-changing brain injuries after he miraculously survived an unprovoked knife attack in Brixton in 2021.
James, now 20, has had to learn to eat and speak again and requires full time care after two masked men, who were jailed in 2022, stabbed him in the chest and left him for dead.
She urgently called all parties to prioritise building a “joined-up” public health approach to saving lives and better support for survivors.
“Young people are losing their lives on the streets. Our cemeteries are full of young people and there’s no outcry,” she told The Independent.
Barry Mizen, who has dedicated his life to educating people about knife crime since his son Jimmy was murdered in Lee, southeast London, in 2008, fears that knife crime won’t be a campaign priority unless another shocking tragedy makes headlines.
He added: “It is a huge issue for society. With crime it is almost as if we have become immune to it and we have run out of ideas.”
He said the recent case involving two 12-year-old killers “beggars belief”.
Figures show offences involving a knife or sharp instrument increased by seven per cent last year – with 49,489 recorded by police between January and December 2023.
This was up from 46,153 in 2022, but three per cent lower than pre-Covid pandemic levels.
Rishi Sunak has promised to recruit 8,000 extra police officers.
In Labour’s manifesto, published on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer vowed to halve knife crime in a decade. Plans include bringing in tougher sanctions for those caught carrying knives and creating a “young futures” program with a network of hubs staffed with youth workers, mental health support workers and careers advisers to steer people away from knife crime.
