Alison Cope: The woman who became a voice against youth violence

Alison Cope has campaigned against youth violence since the death of her son in 2013

A woman who has campaigned to stop youth violence since her son was murdered a decade ago has said the messages of support have kept her going.

Joshua Ribera was stabbed in the heart near a nightclub in Birmingham in 2013.

His mum Alison Cope said her son's fame as a rapper meant his fans turned to her in the wake of his death and she became "a voice" without intending to.

She has spent years sharing his story to educate other young people.

"I think there's a big part of me that's still in shock 10 years later. It's taken a lot of years for me to actually start to realise that he is gone, he isn't coming back," she said.

"It's a very slow process for me, because it's the unimaginable."

Joshua Ribera was stabbed in the heart near a nightclub in Selly Oak

Joshua was better known under his stage name, Depzman, and Ms Cope said the "amount of overwhelming grief across of the UK landed on my doorstep".

"I became someone that people were listening to and because my son's story is so powerful and I am able to express it in a professional way and a calm way," she explained.

'Not close to stopping'

Ms Cope has spoken to thousands of young people at schools, prisons and other education providers and worked with police forces to pass on her anti-violence message and tell her son's story.

She said she was "not even close to stopping" and said she had received lots of letters and online messages of support.

But she accepted youth violence and knife crime continued to be a big issue, despite her efforts.

She said tackling it was a "huge task" and only a co-ordinated approach from government could make a real impact - something she continues to lobby for.

Ms Cope goes into schools to talk about how her son died

The teenager who killed Joshua - Armani Deniro Mitchell - was jailed for a minimum of 18 years in 2014.

Ms Cole said she had no hatred for her son's killer and was proud of herself for that.

"For my energy to go into hating him would have just taken away from the energy that I wanted to still give to Josh, even though he wasn't here."