Two Nottingham mums whose never-ending grief continues after losing sons to the blade from a knife are backing a police crackdown on those who carry a knife. Zoe Cooke and Lisa Kilkenny have welcomed a national week of action, which runs from Monday (November 14) until Sunday (20 November).
Nottinghamshire Police officers, under the name Operation Sceptre, will be carrying out a range of different policing and public engagement work. Action will focus on educating people, especially young people, about the consequences of knife carrying, with officers set to visit different schools and colleges across the county to highlight these dangers.
Arrangements have also been made for youngsters to visit the Ben Kinsella Trust’s ‘Choices and Consequences’ exhibition at the National Justice Museum in Nottingham to learn about the devastating impact of knife crime. Lisa, mother of murdered Joseph Whitchurch, had revealed her raw emotions at Nottingham Crown Court after having to say "goodbye" to her "little protector" and her first born.
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Her boy, Joseph, she said, was a "loving caring man" who was just 16 years old when he died - another brutal casualty of knife crime. In March her son's killer, Jake Rollinson, then 20, of Hickings Lane, Stapleford, was jailed for Joseph's murder after he stabbed him at least four times at Rollinson's Stapleford home.
His minimum term was set, in March this year, at 19 years before he can apply for parole.
Lisa told Nottinghamshire Live on the eve of the Operation Sceptre launch, it is great that knife crime is being made a priority. "The police have always been a great support to me, and I had a small part in Operation Sceptre, and will help whenever I can to raise awareness to save lives and take knives off our streets.
She is currently working with the National Justice Museum to raise awareness on knife crime and says, "hopefully this will help educate schools, colleges etc. Knife crime can happen to anyone in any area".
"I'm so pleased the police and Crime Commissioner Caroline Henry have made knife crime a priority and are helping in our communities with various projects to make a safer place for all. She (Mrs Henry) has seen the devastation it brought Joseph's friends and my family, and also the Stapleford and Bramcote community.
"Communities must get behind all these projects to stamp out knife crime"
"Projects such as the Chayah Project - who I work with to raise awareness on knife crime as part of Joe's World - will carry on trying to stop the devastating act of knife crime, and are also there to support families. They have been a great support to me.
"Communities must get behind all these projects to stamp out knife crime. I urge everyone to look out in their communities and see what they can do to help.
"Let's pull together! I do not want anyone else to go through what I have to wake up to every morning. I miss my beautiful boy so much."
Likewise, Mrs Cooke, from West Bridgford, is doing everything she can as a mother to stamp out knife crime. She is working tirelessly to try to provide as many bleed kits as she can around Nottinghamshire, in the hope of saving other's lives through the vital pieces of equipment.
Mrs Cooke received a call from police to inform her that her 22-year-old son Byron was stabbed through the heart with a kitchen knife in Eyre’s Garden, Ilkeston, at around 12.40pm on Sunday, July 4, of last year.
Mr Griffin, from East Leake, was taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre, in Nottingham, where he died. Jordan Fairbrother, Dylan Geary, Daniel Lewsley and Grant Masterson were all found guilty of his murder following a six-week trial at Derby Crown Court.
Geary, 22, and Lewsley, 32, of Great Northern Close, Ilkeston, will serve a minimum of 25 years behind bars before being eligible for parole, while Masterson, 29, also of Great Northern Close, will serve a minimum of 26 years and Fairbrother, 26, of Nelson Street, Swadlincote, a minimum of 27 years. The final blows were delivered by Fairbrother, who stabbed a kitchen knife through the heart of Mr Griffin.
Mrs Cooke, 48, told Nottinghamshire Live on Sunday evening (November 13) something more has got to be done as people are not taking knife crime seriously at the moment. "A lot of people wipe it under the carpet, and think, 'it will never happen to me'. That was me.
"You think it will happen to drug dealers etc. and gang members. The fact is, it can happen to anybody. I think so many children now take a knife out with them, and it is becoming the norm.
Read more: 2 Nottingham mums turn tragedies into legacies that 'change people's lives'
"Children should be educated at a much younger age about knife crime and County Lines. My son had nothing to do with that. I think things nowadays with knife crime, is that children are getting dragged into it, and County Lines".
As part of the raising-awareness initiative, there will be an event at Park Vale Academy, Top Valley, at the end of the week, featuring powerful speeches from people who have lost loved ones, music and dance performances from local artists and a range of other activities.
The force has several other initiatives planned throughout the week to help take knives off the streets, including carrying out extra patrols and search warrants, deploying metal-detecting knife arches and doing knife sweeps around hot spot areas.
Amnesty bins have also been set up inside police stations across Nottinghamshire as part of the offering for the campaign, in a bid to encourage people to get rid of unwanted knives without the fear of being prosecuted.
The force has two dedicated knife crime teams, covering the city and county, who specifically target knife crime by carrying out regular patrols, with their work seeing them take nearly 250 blades and offensive weapons off the streets so far this year.
Operation Sceptre only offers a sample of the work carried out all year-round that led to knife crime falling by seven per cent in Nottinghamshire between April 2021 and March 2022, compared to the same 12-month period before the pandemic.
Superintendent Kathryn Craner, Nottinghamshire Police’s knife crime lead, said: “Eradicating knife crime from our communities is a key priority for us as we understand the devastation this offending can cause. “It's important people realise the dangers carrying a knife can bring and that doing this will actually put them more at risk of getting seriously injured themselves.
“Taking knives off the streets and educating young people about the consequences of carrying a blade so they make the right choices are crucial to reducing offending and preventing these crimes from happening in the first place. The positive action we’ll be carrying out throughout this week of action will focus on these points, although Operation Sceptre will offer just a snapshot of all the proactive work we do all year-round.
“Working alongside our partners, we have taken some positive strides in helping reduce knife crime in our communities but it’s absolutely crucial that we continue our efforts to drive this down further.”
Among these key partners is Nottinghamshire’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), which uses innovative early intervention methods to positively engage with young people to educate them about the dangers associated with knife crime before they ever pick up a knife.
Natalie Baker-Swift, head of the Violence Reduction Unit, said: "The VRU is happy to once again be working with the police and Police and Crime Commissioner to coordinate action against knife crime and violence. Our message to young people is that carrying a knife simply does not make you safer, and help is out there to lift you out of violence, exploitation, and fear.
"We hope Operation Sceptre continues to boost the partnership work which is vital to supporting these vulnerable young people."
Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Caroline Henry made knife crime a priority area for Nottinghamshire Police as part of her 'Make Notts Safe' plan. Her office is also responsible for commissioning scores of third sector organisations to carry out valuable diversionary activity for young people, educational work and support services to prevent knife crime and support victims across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
She said: “Every knife crime has a profound impact on victims, families and communities. That’s why it is so important that we stand together as a community in Nottinghamshire and say ‘we won’t sit back and let it happen.’
"We have to be united in ensuring our city and county remain a place where carrying a knife is completely unacceptable and called out wherever we see it. The police and local partners do an incredible job in tackling knife crime – but by the time the police are called to get involved, it is often too late to stop the harm to the victim and the perpetrator and that wider ripple effect on the community.
“The biggest difference we can all make is educating young people in our society – our sons, daughters, brothers and sisters – to help them make positive choices in their lives that allow a better future for everyone.”
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