Family of Essex stabbing victim back knife crime law change

Julie Taylor said carrying of knives was accepted as a "normal thing" by some people

The grandmother of a 19-year-old who was stabbed to death has backed proposals for tougher knife crime laws.

Liam Taylor was killed outside a pub in Writtle, near Chelmsford in Essex, on 31 January 2020.

Julie Taylor is backing law changes which would criminalise possession of combat style weapons and increase sentences for those found selling or carrying them.

"These killings must stop," she said.

She said that while the three men who killed her grandson may have been jailed for life with minimum terms of between 16 and 21 years, her family and those of other stabbing victims are also serving "life sentences".

"All these life sentences for us have to stop; these killings must stop," she said.

Mrs Taylor and her family set up the Liam Taylor Legacy crowdfunding page and that, together with other fundraising initiatives, have so far paid for nearly 200 catastrophic bleed control kits.

Liam Taylor was killed outside a pub in Essex in 2020

Public-access bleed control kits are specialist first aid kits which include several items which could potentially save a life.

Last weekend, one of the kits was used outside a nightclub in Southend-on-Sea where two men were stabbed. Mrs Taylor said it showed that knife crime campaigning is more important than ever.

"It seems the normal thing for a person to walk down the street carrying a knife, for protection or whatever reason, and [it is] being accepted," she said.

"And every morning you wake up and there's a stabbing or a murder; it cannot carry on."

At a summit in Westminster on Thursday, attended by the policing minister, MPs, representatives from the police, and police and crime commissioners (PCCs) from across the country, Mrs Taylor shared her story.

She also took with her images of her grandson and Ashley Wadsworth, a 19-year-old Canadian girl who was fatally stabbed by her boyfriend in Essex.

Ashley Wadsworth was fatally stabbed in Essex in 2022 by her boyfriend

Anna Firth, Conservative MP for Southend West, said the summit and ongoing government consultation on combat weapons was focused on getting them "off our streets for good".

Roger Hirst, PCC for Essex, said it was clear there was "a huge amount of support" for tougher laws.

"We heard from police officers about how many loopholes there are in current legislation that make it hard to enforce on people supplying theses weapons and enforce against gang members going about equipped for crime," he said.

Mr Hirst encouraged people to take part in the Home Office consultation which runs until 6 June.

Roger Hirst, Anna Firth and Julie Taylor all took part in the Westminster summit on Thursday