A FORMER EastEnders actress has sworn to tackle knife crime 17 years on from her teenage brother’s senseless murder.
Brooke Kinsella, 41, has called on the public to get involved and help stop knife crime so that no one else goes through her “trauma and pain”.
Daniel Jones – The SunBrooke Kinsella is an actress and knife prevention campaigner[/caption]
News Group Newspapers LtdBrooke has been campaigning against knife crime after her brother was killed[/caption]
PAA childhood photo of Ben Kinsella and his sister Brooke[/caption]
News Group Newspapers LtdFriends of Ben laid flowers at the scene where he was killed in 2008[/caption]
Brooke rose to fame in her role as Kelly Taylor on the soap EastEnders between 2001 and 2004.
When her brother Ben was brutally stabbed to death in 2008, the actress and her parents set up a knife prevention charity in his memory.
Ben was just 16-years-old when he was murdered in Islington, north London.
He was out celebrating the end of his GCSE exams when there was a row at a bar and he was chased by three men.
The teenager – who was blameless in the argument – was kicked to the ground and stabbed multiple times.
Jade Braithwaite, Michael Alleyne and Juress Kika were jailed for life with a minimum 19-year term for the boy’s murder.
The Ben Kinsella Trust – set up by his family – are leading the Knife Crime Awareness Week which starts today.
Charities, victims, police forces and the Government will come together as part of a major new bid to tackle Britain’s knife-crime epidemic.
It aims to help support police forces across the UK in their ongoing battle against knife crime.
Children as young as eight are carrying blades to school and stab each other over video games as the UK experiences a knife crime epidemic.
Experts have estimated one in 20 children have carried a knife.
It comes amid a crackdown on online deliveries of the blades following the horrifying murders of three schoolgirls by Axel Rudakubana, who bought his weapon online.
Brooke said: “Ben has now been gone from our lives longer than we ever had him. It’s been seventeen years since his murder and the pain never stops. He should be in the prime of his life.
“Through the Ben Kinsella Trust, our family has relentlessly pursued the goal of ending knife crime, but we know that we can’t do this alone.
“Knife Crime Awareness Week highlights the work that is being done to help tackle this and to ensure other families don’t experience the trauma and pain that we all went through. I’d encourage everyone to get involved, because we all have a role to play in stopping knife crime.”
Handout16-year-old Ben Kinsella, who died after being stabbed repeatedly[/caption]
PA:Press AssociationBen Kinsella’s sisters Jade, Brooke and Georgia protest at escalating knife crime in 2008[/caption]
How sickeningly easy it was for Southport killer Axel Rudakubana to buy knife & poison online before brutal murders
By Harry Cole, Richard Moriarty and Noa Hoffman
SOUTHPORT murderer Axel Rudakubana was able to buy knives on Amazon in seconds despite being just 17 with a history of violence.
The triple child killer also purchased equipment to make deadly ricin poison from the online retail giant, it emerged.
Sir Keir Starmer told The Sun he will urgently change the law to stop under-18s bypassing online age checks with ease. He said: “This cannot continue.”
Rudakubana, who fatally stabbed three young girls at a Taylor Swift dance class last July, exploited limited checks allowing blades to be sent without ID.
He amassed a cache of weapons including knives, machetes and arrows, and admitted carrying a blade more than ten times.
The killer, referred to the anti-terror programme three times, also had a conviction for a violent offence against a child at school.
The Government will now introduce two-step verification for all knife web purchases. Companies will be required by law to forbid sale without a digital scan of a passport or driving licence as well as a live selfie video to verify the buyer is the ID holder.
The campaign is also being supported by Axon, a longstanding public safety partner to UK policing, the charity The St Giles Trust, the Home Office, and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).
Among those supporting the campaign is Pooja Kanda, the mother of Ronan Kanda, who was fatally stabbed in 2022 also at the age of just 16.
He was walking back from his friend’s house after buying a Playstation controller when he was set up by the teens.
Footage showed two hooded assailants ran up behind him clutching a ninja sword and machete.
The boy was just yards from his home in Wolverhampton when he was stabbed twice by Prabjeet Veadhesa, 17.
He collapsed in the road and died from catastrophic injuries after being knifed in the heart.
His mother said: “Losing my son Ronan to knife crime has left an unimaginable void in our lives. Knife Crime Awareness Week is a crucial time to remember all those affected by this senseless violence.
“We must educate our young people about the devastating consequences and build a society where carrying a knife is never seen as an option. Let Ronan’s memory inspire us all to take action and build a safer, brighter future for every child.”
The Minister for Policing and Crime Prevention Dame Diana Johnson is also supporting the campaign.
She said: “We cannot let the irreversible pain and suffering caused by knife crime become inevitable in our society. This government has a mission to halve knife crime over the next decade and we are acting with urgency – we have already banned more deadly weapons and are bringing in Ronan’s Law, which will go further than ever to curb the sale of weapons online.
“Through our Plan for Change, we are also developing a Young Futures programme to intervene earlier to prevent young people going down the wrong path.
“But we cannot achieve this alone and initiatives like Knife Crime Awareness Week are so important in focusing public attention on tackling this crime.”
Patrick Green, the CEO of the Ben Kinsella Trust, said knife crime isn’t “unavoidable”.
He said: “It’s easy to feel that knife crime can never be stopped. Relentless increases in statistics can create the impression that it’s an unavoidable part of society. However, Knife Crime Awareness Week demonstrates that this doesn’t have to be the case.
“The week showcases the positive impact of organisations and individuals working to tackle knife crime, proving that change can happen. Stopping knife crime requires a collective effort, and Knife Crime Awareness Week provides the opportunity for everyone to contribute.”
Commander Stephen Clayman, the NPCC lead for Knife Crime said: “Whilst we will also do more to restrict the supply of certain knives and swords, particularly online, we are clear that policing alone is not the long-term solution. Prevention and early intervention remains absolutely vital.
“By working hand-in-hand with communities, families, and partner organisations, as highlighted during this crucial awareness week, we can collectively do more to address the root causes of knife crime and build safer futures for our young people.”
In February, the country’s knife crime crisis was laid bare in The Sun’s interactive map.
And in January, the Mayor of London’s knighthood was branded a “joke” by families of knife crime victims.
Sadiq Khan had overseen the biggest ever jump in knife possession on record, The Sun revealed.
GettyBrooke Kinsella at the funeral of murdered teenager Ben[/caption]
PA:Press AssociationThe Kinsella family (left to right) Holly, father George, Jade, Brook, Georgia, Christopher and mother Deborah, outside the Old Bailey in London in 2009[/caption]
Elianne Andam’s death is devastating – we cannot afford to let more lives be lost. It’s time for meaningful change
By Brooke Kinsella
AS I sit down to write this, my heart aches with a familiar pain, a pain that has never truly subsided since that fateful day in 2008 when my brother Ben was brutally murdered.
He was just 16 when he was stabbed to death.
On Tuesday, another innocent life was taken in Croydon, a 15-year-old girl, her dreams and potential destroyed by the relentless scourge of knife crime.
How does it make me feel?
Devastated, angry and frustrated, but also driven to keep fighting against this epidemic that’s plagued our country for far too long.
The impact of this tragedy on Elianne Andam’s family and friends is immeasurable.
I know first-hand the agony they are experiencing.
It’s a pain that doesn’t fade with time and it’s a wound that never truly heals.
My own family, 15 years after losing Ben, still bears the scars of our loss.
Every milestone, every family gathering, every momentous occasion is tinged with the heartbreaking reality that Ben isn’t there.
The statistics are stark, and they tell a chilling story.
In the last 15 years, 1,010 young people under the age of 24 have been stabbed to death (up to March 2022).
That’s 1,010 futures ended, 1,010 families shattered and 1,010 communities left grieving.
Even more disturbing is the fact that there has been a 29 per cent increase in the number of young people murdered with a knife or sharp object since 2008, the year Ben died.
So, why is knife crime spiralling out of control? It’s a complex issue with no easy answer.
One of the contributing factors is the ease with which young people can access deadly weapons like zombie knives.
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