Grieving dads call for compulsory knife crime lessons

Left to right: Martin and Charlie Cosser, and Robert and Colin Knox

Two dads who have met for the first time since their teenage sons were fatally stabbed are calling for compulsory knife crime lessons in schools.

Colin Knox, whose 18-year-old son, Harry Potter actor Robert Knox, was murdered outside a London bar in 2008, said: "I had to kiss him on his forehead and it was cold."

Martin Cosser whose 17-year-old son Charlie, was fatally stabbed at a party in West Sussex in 2023, said: "The night Charlie was stabbed the word shank was mentioned twice, and knife, and nobody did anything."

Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to "double down" on knife crime after a summit at Downing Street aimed at halving it over the next decade.

Mr Cosser and Mr Knox shared some of their most difficult moments.

Mr Knox, from Hawkinge in Kent, said the hardest thing was saying goodbye. "I had to kiss him [Robert] on his forehead and it was cold, I could have just collapsed on the floor. What a way to say goodbye."

Mr Cosser described his memory of seeing his son Charlie's lifeless body.

"Nothing could prepare me to go in and see my little boy lying there at that age, it was just horrific and all because someone thought it was alright to take a knife out to a party and use it on an innocent human being."

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Mr Cosser, from Milford in Surrey, who gives awareness talks in schools, said: "The night Charlie was stabbed the word shank was mentioned twice and knife and nobody did anything.

"I don’t blame those children."

He said if any of them had reported it to the home owner "Charlie may still be alive".

Charlie Cosser and Robert Knox were both fatally stabbed

Mr Cosser said: "Knife crime in terms of the school curriculum needs to be compulsory and it needs to start at a young age, because I’ve also been hearing about young knife carriers, eight and nine years old.

"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?" he said.

More than 50,000 knife crime offences in England and Wales were reported in the 12 months to March 2024, a 4% rise on the previous year, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show.

Mr Cosser and Mr Knox say Sir Keir Starmer needs to "do something different" to tackle the increasing issue.

Gun and knife crime is not mentioned specifically in the current relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) in schools.

But the government says it includes references to situations that often lead young people to carry weapons, such as involvement in gangs and county lines drugs operations.

The Department for Education says it allows schools discretion to tailor the content of the curriculum to suit the threats that face their pupils specifically.

Colin Knox and Martin Cosser are urging the government to introduce mandatory lessons on the dangers of knife crime

Mr Knox, who previously lobbied Gordon Brown on knife crime when he was prime minister in 2009, said the recently elected government should bring in new ideas.

"I’ve had a personal visit to Number 10, I’ve been to the Department for Education and many government departments. You ask me whether there’s been change? My honest opinion is no.

"Take them out of the system, educate them, turn them around and give them an exit programme, break that wicked circle, break up the gang culture," he said.

On Monday police, campaigners and technology firms joined ministers in Downing Street to launch a new push to tackle knife crime.

Actor Idris Elba told the summit: "Talk is good, but action is important."

Sir Keir Starmer promised action to tackle the online sale of deadly weapons.

He said: "Far too many knives are too easily available, whether that's online, whether that's through the post."

It is "just too shocking - that needs to be dealt with," he said.

Idris Elba attended an event in Downing Street with the prime minister

Policing minster Dame Diana Johnson said: “We know that knife crime over the last decade has gone up so much, so that’s why it is so important to this government, and it’s one of our manifesto commitments to deal with knife crime.

“There is within schools relationships and sex education where schools have the flexibility to raise issues like this, to talk about these issues with young people,” she said.

“At the moment there is a review of what’s taught in relationships and sex education and this is one of the things that is being looked at.”

The government says it is bringing in tough new laws on the sale of weapons.

Zombie-style knives and machetes are being added to a prohibited list of dangerous items from 24 September - which also includes butterfly knives, samurai swords and push daggers (short-bladed knives with a T-shaped handle).

According to the government, anyone found with these weapons following the ban will face jail time.

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