Policeman gets it right on stab deaths

With news of the latest stab death: that of Rob Knox, killed in Sidcup protecting his brother, resonating and the murder of lewisham teenager Jimmy Mizen - not victim of knife-crime per se but still dead at the hands of someone who believed it to be acceptable to lash out with a sharp, improvised weapon, I want to flag up some comments made at the start of the month by Detective Superintendent Matthew Horne.

Superintendent Horne is the Police officer who brought the murderers of stab victims Kodjo Yenga and Paul Erhahon to justice at the High Court a few days ago.

Det Supt. Horne made one of the most impressive - and to my mind spot on - statements outside the High Court about stab deaths; my only regret is that I can't reprint the full text of it, because I haven't been able to find a full transcript. However, here's an extract.

"Kodjo was killed with one stab wound and so was Paul. We have heard today that five children in each case have been convicted of the killing of both of these boys, totalling a minimum term of imprisonment of 100 years.

"If you go out on the streets with your friends and you know your friends are carrying a knife and you arm yourself as well then the courts are going to find you guilty as if you had inflicted that fatal blow."

Put another way: carry a knife and you'll end up either in prison or dead.

I also agree, incidentally, with Jimmy Mizen's father who said that the answer to this spate of stab deaths isn't yet more legislation: because we already have the sentences needed to punish those who maim and murder - we just need the Courts to pay due seriousness to those who are caught carrying a knife or, worse, using one.

We can't get knives off the street - unlike guns they're everyday utensils we all have in our homes. So the real challenge for us: Government, Police, Society and - yes - parents, is to make sure young people know that carrying knives isn't sensible, isn't smart, doesn't make you safer and only causes a world of misery to you, your family and that of your potential victim.