Ray Winstone backs dads' knife crime lessons call

Actor Ray Winstone has backed calls for knife crime lessons to be added to the curriculum

Actor Ray Winstone has backed calls for compulsory knife crime lessons from two dads whose sons were fatally stabbed.

Mr Winstone said: "I don't know why that hasn't been done up to now."

There were more than 50,000 incidents of knife crime recorded in 2023-2024, an increase of 4% on the previous year, according to ONS figures.

The Department for Education (DfE) told the BBC: “We know more must be done to tackle knife crime, which devastates lives."

The star referred to Colin Knox, from Hawkinge in Kent, whose Harry Potter actor son Rob was killed aged 18 in 2008.

At a screening of (K)nox: The Rob Knox Story in central London on Saturday, Mr Winstone told BBC South East documentaries on knife crime should be shown in school

He said: "It wouldn't hurt to show this film and films like it in schools

"If it stops one kid from doing it it's kind of done it's job."

Mr Winstone, who appeared in 2004 film King Arthur with the teen, became patron of The Rob Knox Foundation after filming a documentary on his murder.

Rob's father Colin Knox recently met with Martin Cosser, whose 17-year-old son Charlie was fatally stabbed at a party in West Sussex in 2023.

The two fathers jointly called on the prime minister to make lessons in knife crime part of the curriculum.

Mr Cosser, from Milford in Surrey, said: "Keir Starmer, if you are listening, you need to do something different. You’ve spoken about knife crime, what are you going to do?

"What is wrong with an hour a week?"

(l-r) Colin Knox, Martin Cosser and Ray Winstone attended a screening in Picadilly Circus on Saturday

Mr Winstone has backed their calls and added he would like to see anyone caught carrying a knife meet with victims' families as a preventative measure.

He said: "Not just for one or two weeks went but maybe for a year when they meet two or three families go and talk to these people."

He continued: "I'm talking about preventing the crime before it happens."

The DfE said it was up to schools to decide how they introduce the issue.

In a statement, it said: "This government has committed to halving knife crime over the next decade.

“It’s vitally important that young people are aware of the dangers of knife crime, which is why we allow schools discretion to tailor the content of the curriculum to suit the threats that face their pupils, including focusing on knife crime."

It said it was investing more than £50m to fund specialist support in both mainstream and alternative provision schools "in the areas where serious violence most impacts children".

Previously, policing minster Dame Diana Johnson said: “We know that knife crime over the last decade has gone up so much.

"That’s why it is so important to this government, and it’s one of our manifesto commitments to deal with knife crime.

Teens Charlie Cosser and Robert Knox were both fatally stabbed

New legislation banning the manufacture, sale, possession and importation of zombie knives came into force across England and Wales on 24 September.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced the government would like to halve knife crime within a decade, at the Labour Party conference in September.

Mr Knox and Mr Cosser will visit Whitehall to discuss their campaign with the goverment later in October.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story you can visit the BBC Action Line.