Sam Cook murder: Birthday murder family tell of 'turmoil'

The family of a man murdered as he celebrated his 21st birthday have spoken of the "turmoil" they suffered following his death.

Sam Cook was stabbed to death by Carl Madigan at a bar in Liverpool on 21 October 2017.

Mr Cook's mother Gillian Radcliffe said knife violence affected both the victim's and the killer's families.

And she urged those thinking about carrying a knife to reconsider their actions.

"To go out with a knife is not proving to anyone that you're hard," she said.

Sam Cook's family said it is "not big, it's cowardly" to carry a knife

Ms Radcliffe said the "stupid people" that carry knives do not realise the impact of their decision.

"It's not just families like us, it's the families of the people that do it too. It just affects so many people."

Sam Cook had been out celebrating his birthday shortly before he was killed

Mr Cook's grandmother Val Radcliffe said: "These people with the knives are not even fearful of anybody. They're just not."

"We've got to stop anybody else going through this turmoil. We've got to try and fight this for him."

"Sam is not a statistic," his mother added.

Madigan was jailed for 28 years at Liverpool Crown Court last month, after being found guilty of Mr Cook's murder.

The stabbing followed an argument at the Empire Bar on Seel Street while he was on licence for attacking another man with a machete.

Gillian Radcliffe says her son's life has been taken from him

A summit is being held in Liverpool to discuss knife crime and a new campaign called 'Real Men Don't Carry Knives' will be launched at the event.

It will include workshops at youth centres and secondary school talks from a nurse clinician, to include a graphic presentation of the effects of knife injuries.

Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson said he wanted all agencies to work together to stop knife crime.

"We need to educate people and make it clear that carrying any kind of weapon like a knife is unacceptable," he said.